The Mercenary
by Zephyr of the Shadows
Summary: An alternate version of Gohan's life after Cell. Working as a mercenary, how will Gohan show how much he is like his father. Includes GhVi in later chapters, characters from other anime and Goku bashing.
1. Gohan's descent

Mercenary. One of the many term used to describe someone who fights. Other terms include fighter, soldier, warrior, footman, grunt, knight etc. However the thing that separates a mercenary from the others is this. They are not associated with honour, or loyalty. They are associated with money, because that's what a mercenary is, someone who fights for the highest payer. It has been said on numerous occasions that money is the root of all evil, and thus mercenaries are also associated with evil and corruption. A mercenary will not care who he kills, who he hurts or who he saves, just as long as he gets paid.

On a particularly rainy day, there sat a boy. He just sat in the mud, not making an effort to get out of the rain, or to even keep himself dry. He looked towards the place that he had once called home and heard an ear piercing scream. But still the boy did not move a small tear escaped. "Dad… how could you," said the boy, Son Gohan.

Another scream came from the house, in which Gohan slightly turned his head towards that direction. "How could you leave me?" a few more tears fell.

The sound of rain hitting the ground was once again pierced by a scream, this one louder and prolonged. "How could you leave mom?" the tears, flowing more freely.

Suddenly the screaming stopped and was replaced by the sound of a babies cry. Gohan glared directly at the house, growling. "How could you leave your unborn son?"

The crying continued and with his enhanced hearing, he could hear Bulma running around in a panic. Gohan growled some more. His glaring eyes flashed from charcoal to turquoise and his jet black hair transformed into a brilliant gold. "HOW COULD YOU LEAVE, YOU BASTARD?" yelled Gohan.

Sitting there in the mud, where a silent young boy sat, now shone a golden haired god, burning with hate and anger. "Why… why did you leave, you son of a bitch," whispered Gohan, looking back at the ground.

"What do you think you're doing brat?"

Gohan turned his head to face Vegeta. "Go away Vegeta,"

Vegeta only frowned and moved closer. "Why are you so upset?"

Gohan glared. "Why do you think?"

Vegeta nodded. "Because he left," he said simply.

Gohan turned his glare to the sky. "He told me to look after everyone. Why should I? Mom is his wife, that baby is his son. Why should I look after them while he's off training in the afterlife?"

"He's a Saiyan. He has an opportunity to get strong so naturally he takes it," said Vegeta.

Gohan looked at Vegeta, his glared lessened but still transformed. "You once told me that when a Saiyan forms a bond with his mate, then they virtually become one, right? And that a Saiyan would do anything for his mate,"

Vegeta nodded. "So why should I look after another Saiyans mate?" said Gohan.

"She's your mother. A Saiyan also has a duty to his parents and his loved ones," said Vegeta.

"Then why isn't Goku here," spat Gohan.

Realisation hit Vegeta. "You feel he's passed the mantle of provider onto you, don't you," said Vegeta.

Gohan nodded. "He's always leaving to train and to fight, and never faces up to the responsibility of being a parent and a father. Was it common for Saiyan's to abandon their family just so they could get strong?"

Vegeta shook his head. The boy only sighed.

Gohan then noticed Bulma's jet fly off. "Where's she going," he said.

Vegeta looked towards the jet. "Something went wrong, some minor complications. There taking Chichi and Goten to CC for better care,"

With that Gohan stood up and changed back to normal. "Perfect," said Gohan.

Vegeta shot him a questioning look. "What do you mean by that?"

Walking to the house he simply said "I'm leaving,"

Vegeta looked surprise. He wasn't excepting that response. "You're not serious are you? What about your mother and brother, you're just gonna leave them?"

Gohan stopped for a moment. "Saving the word is one thing Vegeta. Raising a family is a completely different task, one my father never did. And it's only natural for children to imitate their parents,"

Vegeta just looked as the young man made his way into the house. A few minutes later Gohan came out with a bag on his shoulder. Gohan looked at the older Saiyan. "Goodbye Vegeta," he said.

As Gohan walked past him Vegeta placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're doing that right thing, Gohan. Who will look after your mother and brother?"

"Goku should have thought of that before he decided to stay in the Otherworld," Gohan said. "It's not fair for him to ask me something that he won't do himself,"

Vegeta sighed. He realised that he wouldn't be able to talk Gohan out of it. "Gohan, tomorrow night at ten, I'll leave a capsule pack in the CC letterbox," said Vegeta. "What you do with them is up to you,"

Gohan nodded and started to walk away. "Thank you Vegeta. And please tell the others that I will kill anyone who tries to find me, and that I would rather not be put in that position."

Vegeta nodded. "Goodbye son of Goku,"

Gohan stopped and turned with a sad look in his eye. "And don't ever associate me with Goku, again," he said, placing two fingers to his head and disappearing, leaving the Saiyan prince to his thoughts.

­­­­­

It had been four months since Gohan had left and only Vegeta and Piccolo had respected his wish to be left alone. Krillin and the others tried to look for Gohan, but after Yamcha was almost eaten up by a Masenko, they soon got the picture. The capsules that Vegeta had given him turned out to be every useful indeed and included a portable gravity room, similar to one Vegeta used before the androids and a portable home, which contained lots of food an a few nifty gadgets.

For the past four months Gohan had lived mostly on the enormous amount of food left by Vegeta. But now his supply was running low and he would need to find a way to get food, otherwise he would starve. As Gohan debated on ways to solve his food problem, he walked down the street of some nameless city. People who saw his on the street just assumed he was some runaway Goth. Before he came to this city, Piccolo had given him a weighted black trench coat as a farewell gift. Along with his muscle shirt baggy black jeans, black boots and black fingerless gloves, he looked the part.

While he was walking he noticed a bunch of people had gathered in front of a large bank. Making his way over, he asked a bystander what was happening.

"Some thugs are robbing the South City Bank," said the bystander, an elderly man who looked like he couldn't take much stress.

Gohan nodded and watched. The desire to help people had gone. He saw no reason why he would help save other peoples money.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE OUTTA THE WAY," yelled a man at the front.

Like the Red Sea the people parted to get out of the thugs way. Gohan saw three men, slowly approaching. These men looked like the times that left school to become body builders and ended up as thugs. They pointed their guns at towards either side of the crowd, with the third covering the rear.

"Yo," whispered one of the front thugs to the other, "we should grab a hostage to make sure the cops don't try anything funny."

The other thug nodded and reached out to grab the shirt of the nearest person.

Unfortunately that person was Gohan.

Instead of being yanked forward towards them like the thug had planned, Gohan grabbed his arm and pulled the thug towards him, kneeing the thug in the gut. Catching the other two off guard Gohan picked the first one up and hurled him at his companions, knocking them both over. After getting over their initial shock the police swooped in and handcuffed the thugs, while Gohan just vanished to a dark alleyway, avoiding everyone he could. Seeing that the police were looking for him, he stayed in the shadows, waiting for the coast to clear.

­­­­

It took a few hours for the police to leave the area, allowing Gohan to move freely. He could have used the instant transmission to get out of here, but wasn't ready to leave the city, nor willing to risk someone seeing him pop out of thin air. Making sure that they had all left, Gohan walked out of the shadows only to be stopped by a man in a business suit and two thugs, dressed similarly to the three that were robbing the bank earlier. "I thought you would come out sooner or later," said the business suit, his thugs flanking either side.

Gohan just stared. "Who are you?"

The businessman gave a little bow. "Joseph Mortimer, of the Black Syndicate South City Branch, at your service," he said, smiling.

Gohan face hardened slightly. The Black Syndicate was possibly the largest crime organisation in the world. "What do you want with me?" he said.

Mortimer smiled. "I was watching the operation in the crowd, and couldn't help but noticed that you only stopped my boys after they got you involve. Am I correct in saying that you wouldn't have done anything if they had left you alone?"

Gohan nodded. Mortimer's smile widened. "Excellent, then I have a proposal for you. How would you like to work for the Black Syndicate?" he said.

Gohan raised an eyebrow. "Doing what exactly?" asked Gohan.

"Oh nothing beyond _your_ abilities I assure you. Just bodyguard work, robbing banks, you know, the usual mercenary work," said Mortimer.

Gohan remained silent. Before the androids started attacking, he would have said 'get lost' straight away. Before he fought Cell, he would have said 'Not on your life' without hesitation. Before his father left he would have said 'No' without consideration or a second thought.

But that was before, and this is now.

"How much?"


	2. Enter Videl

**WARNING**: This chapter contains descriptions of sexual assault and read.

_Cell. Oh how I hate that word._

_In this day and age the word 'cell' refers to one of two things. The first one is the biological definition. A cell is a micro-organism which makes up the human body. Our brains, lungs, stomaches, heart and other organs are made up of cells, as are our skeletons, muscles and skin. So basically the entire human body is nothing more than a group of cells._

_Cell was also a monster._

_About three years ago, the population of Ginger Town mysteriously vanished, leaving nothing but their clothes. Several other towns disappeared in a similar fashion before it was discovered that the cause of all this was a monster named Cell. Why he was called Cell I have no idea. Someone came up with a theory that he was created from DNA samples of the greatest fighters ever and added a few other customary traits. Customary meaning making him look like a giant incest on steroids. If that was the case then why was he beaten? How was my dad able to beat a monster like Cell who would have known all of his moves and abilities? _

_That of course implies that he did beat Cell. Don't get me wrong or anything, I love my father, how can I not. But something deep inside tells me that it wasn't my dad that beat Cell. I think maybe it was that boy, the one with golden hair and the fire in his eyes. When I look at old images of the games, and compared the pictures of the boy with ones of my dad, I see that there is no way my father could have beaten Cell._

Her name was Videl Satan, the fourteen year old daughter of Hercule, the man who saved the world. The fame that this deed brought allowed Videl to acquire things which weren't possible before, such as a capsule jet for Videl. But despite this, Videl hated the fame. Why? Because it killed the man that was once her father and drove her mother into the arms of another. And because of this fame, she had no true friends.

Well no that's not entirely correct. She did have Erasa and Sharpner, but honestly with those two smooching all the time she felt like a fifth wheel. What she wanted was what Erasa had with Sharpner, what every fourteen year old girl wants. A loving boyfriend.

Unfortunately now because of her fathers fame that would never happen. All the guys who asked her out were either wanting a good time or money or both. Whenever a boy would come up to Videl, she always sees the lust and greed within their eyes. Worse of all there is never any emotion, no love, no passion, no fire. Like the boy from the Cell games, the fire in his eyes burned with determination, to beat Cell.

Snapping back to reality, Videl decided to stop daydreaming about the boy from the Cell games and focus on school. She had been falling behind recently, and didn't want it to continue. She believed it had mostly to do with her new appointment as the city's defender, working along side the police force. The arrangement was simple. The Satan City police department gave Videl a communication watch which allowed them to contact her. Whenever they needed help they would call Videl and in return she would make her father look good.

Videl let out a sigh and looked at her watch. She was anything but stupid; she knew what her father was up to the moment he proposed the idea to her. These days she wasn't allowed to do anything that could even remotely damage her father reputations. That meant she had to be pickier about her friends. Videl once had a good friend called Kayla. She was a nice girl, very caring and was careful of everything she said, less it hurts someone feelings. However, even at the tender age of fourteen, she spent most of her weekends at parties, drinking and having sex. Even though many parents knew about this, and disapproved of their own children being around such a moral-less girl, their children would still talk to Kayla, because they knew what a caring person she really was. When word of Videl's and Kayla's friendship reached Hercule, he immediately planned to stop it.

Kayla's mother was a lot like her daughter. She loved going to parties and getting drunk and going to bed with strange men. The only difference being that Kayla cared about other people, while her mother, Sandra, only cared about money, and doing as little work as possible to get it. Her first husband, and Kayla's father, had been quite a wealthy and handsome businessman. Soon not long after she came back from her honeymoon, her new husband would spend lengthy periods of time in California. Thinking that he might be seeing another woman, she (using her husband's money) hired a private investigator. Turns out she was only half right. It was she who was the other woman. Seeing her chance, she blackmailed her husband into giving her lots of money and in return, she wouldn't send all of their _private_ photos and home video's to his first wife. Naturally he agreed and Sandra was able to live quite comfortably before her daughter was born. Once Kayla came into the money seemed to just disappear. When Hercule offered her regular payments of moneys to take herself and her daughter away from Satan City, she quite readily agreed.

Videl stared at the black board. While history wasn't exactly her favourite subject, when taught by a decent teacher like Miss Edwards, it was a fun and interesting class. Once again Videl sighed. Videl was starting to wonder if her fathers influence had also penetrated the school. Lately, Videl had been noticing her grades rapidly improving, even though Videl had been studying less than what she had been before. Her eyes noticed a question on the board. _Who was George Washington_. Videl wondered if she could get away with saying he was a member of the Beatles. Videl giggled quietly to herself, before realising that it probably was true.

Turning her head towards Erasa, she whispered. "Hey Erasa what are you doing after school,"

Erasa thought for a moment. "Well Sharpner and I were gonna go see that new romance movie. Did you wanna come?"

Videl shook her head. No she did not want to feel like a fifth wheel.

Erasa frowned. "Videl I'm sorry, we haven't been spending much time together, have we,"

Videl gave a little smile. "That's cool Erasa, I mean you've got Sharpner and I've got this thing with the police,"

"Yeah, I know but still… Hey I know. On Saturday night let's have a slumber party, just we used to when we we're kids," said Erasa gleefully.

Seeing Erasa's giddy mood, Videl couldn't help but smile more. "Sure," she said, just before for watch went off.

Everyone could hear the watch and looked at Videl. Blushing slightly from all the attention, she raised her wrist closer to her mouth and answered. "Videl here,"

" Videl, the Black Syndicate is robbing the Central Bank, they have two hostages and we need your help, " exclaimed the police chief, a man named Akira Moore.

Videl subconsciously nodded, while getting up. Earning a nod from the teacher, she made her way out of the class room. Running through the corridors, Videl wondered she was actually needed, or were the police just too lazy or incompetent. Exiting the school she took out her capsule, turned it into a jet and took off.

In flight she dove into deep thought. _'If dad never beat Cell, would I be doing this? Of course not. I would be a normal fourteen year old girl, worrying about make-up, boys and all that other stuff that Erasa thinks about.' _Videl sighed. If only her father hadn't beaten Cell. Or at least claim he did without anyone disproving it.

Ten minutes later she arrived at the scene. A large crowd of people had gathered around the police barricade, meaning she had to land somewhere else. '_Why is there always a crowd anyway_' she thought to herself.

As Videl landed and jumped out of her jet, she received a few stares from the bystanders. That was normal. After all she did not look much like a crime fighter. She wore baggy blue jeans and a simple red t-shirt and her hair was tied up in a single pony tail at the back. But if you looked into her eyes into could the fighter's passion.

Videl looked around for Akira Moore, a stumpy, brown haired ma with a bushy moustach. Noticing the police officer she made her way to through the crowd up to the barricade, where the guard immediately recognizing her let her through.

She walked over to the police captain, who was barking orders at everyone else.

"Stop letting those damned reporters through; when I have a statement to make I'll make it, how did that little girl get through, Johnson I thought you were watching the crowd, someone get me a donut, and where the hell is my coffee," barked Moore.

Videl giggled slightly to her self. It was like something out of a bad cop show. Composing herself, she coughed lightly, to alert Moore of her presence. The police chief looked at her and sighed with relief. "Videl! Thank god you're here," said Moore.

"What's the situation?" asked Videl.

Moore turned to face the bank. "This is one of the Syndicate's biggest operations ever. Usually they send two or three guys to rob a bank, at the most five. But I've had reports of at least twenty men there,"

Videl looked shock. "Twenty? Are you sure?" Videl asked.

Moore nodded. "We believe that there may be something in the bank that's important to the Syndicate, but all of our reports indicate that all was in the bank was money and a few items with sentimental value. There is nothing we can find that would need twenty men to take."

Videl bit her bottom lip. She could easily take down two or three men, but _twenty_? Her confidence was wanning.

Noticing this, Moore asked "Are you alright Miss Videl?"

Videl nodded, pushing all her self doubt out the door. "What's the plan?" she said, confidently.

­

As Videl crawled through the vents, she sighed. She should have figured that the 'plan' would involve the policemen doing next to nothing while she put her neck out for them. The 'plan' involved Videl infiltrating the bank through the vents, locating and securing the hostage's, the manager ad his assistant, wearing down the enemy one by one. Then she would alert the backup outside who would come in and make arrests. The plan was prefect, except for one major flaw.

'_That it completely depends on a fourteen year old girl who just happens to be a really good fighter and has a very famous father'_ Videl thought bitterly. _'At least those morons gave me a half decent map this time'_.

Videl found the opening she was looking for, which would allow her access to the manager's office, where it was believed the hostages were being held. As she got closer to the opening she could hear two men talking who were directly beneath the opening. Both men were dress in black pants and jackets and were armed to the teeth. _'The typical Black Syndicate thug'_ thought Videl.

"Did they find it, yet?" asked the first man, a pale white man with long brown hair done in a pony tail and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"Nope," answered the second, a man of African descent and a purple spiked Mohawk and a nose ring. "I don't even know what they're meant to find,"

"I think I heard one of the others call it a dragon ball,"

Videl frowned. _'What on earth is a dragon ball' _she thought.

"A what? We're risking our lives for some mythical critters testy?" exclaimed the second.

The first thug nodded, taking a long drag of his cigarette and flicking it away. "I know what you mean; I don't think we're getting paid enough," then looking else where he added. "Hey Rex, you finished yet, we wanna get outta here soon you know,"

"Yeah, yeah," came another voice. "Lemme just get my pants on,"

Looking to where the voice came from Videl let out a small gasp. There she saw large, burly thug, pulling his black pants up and doing up his belt. Behind him, she saw two people, both of them dead. The man was sitting against the window, his blood sprayed all over the window and the floor. However it was the woman that really got Videl. Her cloths had been ripped right off her body, leaving her completely naked. She had several bullet words in her chest and her head and her body was covered in bruises, red marks, blood and semen.

Videl felt like she was going to throw up. "Damn stupid bitch," grumbled the man they called Rex. "Think she could get away with biting my cock like that. Well I showed that lil slut, yes I did." The man smirked as he thumped his chest.

The other two snickered as Videl felt the rage building up inside her. All of a sudden though there was a series of several small explosions going off several floors below. "What was that," exclaimed the first thug.

Using the explosion to her advantage, Videl brought her elbow down hard on the hatch, knocking it open. The first two thugs, who were right underneath, were caught completely off guard when the young girl came down upon them and they were unable to block Videl's brutal kicks into their guts. Clutching their stomachs and coughing up blood they fell down unconscious. Rex, who was on the other side of the room, had time to pull out his gun, but that was all. Before the thug could take aim at Videl, she had grabbed a knife from one of the passed out men and imbedded it into Rex's hand. Howling in pain and dropping his gun, he bellowed "YOU FILTHY WHORE," and charged.

Videl however was more than ready for the oncoming assault. Just as Rex came to her she did a back flip, catching her knee on Rex's chin, making him stumble back a bit. Landing back on her feet, Videl ducked down and swept his leg from underneath him. With Rex on the ground she proceeded to continuously kick him in the gut and lower portion of the body, with Videl occasionally stepping on his nose.

When she was satisfied with his level of unconsciousness, she looked down at her feet, which were covered in blood. She knew that even though he was still alive, she would be charged. _'If I was a normal person' _Videl thought with a sigh.

"Holy crap, Vi. What did he do, say something about your cup size," said a voice that Videl would do almost anything to never hear again.

At his remark, Videl blushed and looked down at her chest. One thing that attracted men to her was her bra size. Even though she was fourteen, her breasts were quite large. Turning a glare towards the newcomer Videl said. "Gohan, you pervert,"

There before her stood one the Black Syndicates most highly paid mercenaries, Gohan. At first glance he looked like some delinquent punk or Goth. He looked about her age, wore a trench coat, muscle shirt, fingerless gloves, baggy jeans and skate shoes all in the colour black. Over Videl knew that there was more to this teenager then met the eye. It was his fighting skill and intelligence that made him the Syndicates most highly paid mercenary. She had encountered him several time since there first meeting, and every time they fought he always seemed to toy with her.

Gohan just looked at Videl, while taking a sniff of the air. Then he looked towards the man and woman. "Ah so I guess that's why you wanted to kill him so badly,"

Through Videl's glare, she nodded. "Well, whatever. I'll just be on my way then," said Gohan, turning around and walking to the door.

"Oh no you don't," said Videl, who charged towards him.

Despite the speed of her attack, Gohan was always capable of reacting much faster. She tried to land a kick on the boys face, but he just caught the kick in mid air. "Vi, must we really play around like this," he said as he smirked and twisted her foot.

Videl moved with his twist, causing her to spin and land on her hands. She quickly tired another kick, much like the one she used on Rex, to knock him over. Gohan however saw the attack coming and cart wheeled to a safe distance. "Really, Vi. I would have thought you'd have known that wouldn't have worked against me," he said, dropping into a stance, ready for Videl's next attack.

Getting off the ground Videl charged for Gohan ready to punch him. The speed and power of the punch would have gotten through to anyone. But Gohan wasn't anyone. Faster than light, Gohan caught the punch and brought Videl closer to him. "As much fun as it is playing with you Vi, I really must go," he said, smirking.

'_I hate it when he calls me that' _thought Videl. "Why do you toy with me," she said, trying to break free from his iron hold.

"Because if I didn't then everyone would die and I wouldn't be able to have fun," he said.

"Why you arroga…" Videl started but was cut short by a dozen men in blue bursting into the room, guns raised.

"FREEZE," yelled one of them, who Videl quickly identified as Chief Akira Moore. "Let go of the girl and give yourself up,"

Gohan looked at the police officers then back at Videl. "Well it looks like our little game has to be cut short anyway, Vi, so I'll see you later," Gohan said, moving forward and quickly pressing his lips against hers, shocking everyone. Then letting go of her had, Gohan jumped back and placed two fingers on his fore head and disappeared, leaving nothing but air.

Videl just stood there, completely stunned. Her fingers lightly touching her lips, where Gohan's lips had once been. And despite the fact that her first kiss had been stolen by a loathsome mercenary, her only thought was

'_He has really nice eyes'_

AN Yea I know there wasn't a lot of Gohan in his chap, or much Goku bashing but that's what the next chapters for. The next chapter will basically just tell everyone what Gohan has been doing in between chap 1 and chap 2. Read and review, doesn't matter whether you hated it or not. Until next time.


	3. We are all Expendable

_Innocence. To be innocent is to be ignorant._

_Our innocence is an incredibly fragile thing. Children are innocent because they are too young to understand how evil and dark the world really is. They grow up believing that good will defeat evil; the wrong shall fall to the right and so on. As they grow up, they begin to realise that good doesn't always win and that it doesn't matter whether you're right or wrong, if you're not strong enough, you will die._

_I'm not sure if I can say I was ever innocent. I was thrust into this dark world around the age of four, and have been fighting ever since. So while children are playing with dolls and trucks, I was fighting for my life, trying to survive the day and prepare for the next. What kind of a childhood is that?_

It was a nice warm night, as Gohan made his way through the rougher part of Satan City. It was here where the Satan administration had no power and the Black Syndicate reigned supreme. Gohan yawned. He had no patience for politics, just as long as he got paid. As he walked down a relatively busy street, people paid no attention to him, just the way he liked it. It really annoyed him when people just didn't mind their own business.

As Gohan got closer to his apartment, he thought back to when he first started working for the Black Syndicate.

_An eleven year old Gohan looked at South City Bank. A week ago he was apart of a crowd that watched on and apprehended three thugs from the Black Syndicate steal money. Now he was here for the same purpose as those men. To take._

_Gohan crossed the street, completely ignoring traffic and thus causing problems. The first lane was relatively quiet, so there wasn't a problem there. The second lane however led to the central business district, and was much busier. Gohan just walked in front of a shiny black sports car, causing the driver to serve and crash into a light post and the cars behind him to follow suit. Quickly jumping out, the driver, a young man in a business suit and tie surveyed the damages, and became furious when the thoughts of the repair bill went through his head._

_Turning to Gohan, who hadn't stopped walking, the man yelled. "HEY YOU LITTLE BASTARD LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE," _

_Ignoring him and the other yells from the other drivers, Gohan walked into the bank, where everyone inside was watching him. Taking a few steps towards the counter, Gohan was stopped when he felt someone grab him by the back of his coat._

"_Listen here you little punk," it was the man from the black sports car. "How are you going to pay for my…"_

_The man never finished his sentence, as Gohan, who had heard enough, brutally elbowed the ma in the stomach and used the back of his fist to break his nose. Smirking in satisfaction as a crunching noise was made, Gohan twisted around and delivered a kick into the mans side, sending him flying into the wall. Everyone in the bank and outside just gasped._

_Gohan turned to the cashier and threw a calico bag at her. "Fill this up please," he said._

_Still in a state of shock, the young woman nodded and took the bag into a back room. She returned with the bag filled with notes and handed him the bag. Giving a small bow, he said "Thank you very much," and turned to leave._

_As he approached the door, the security guard decided now was the appropriate time to draw his gun. "Hold it right there, son," said the guard. "Just drop the bag and put your hands up, and now one gets hurt,"_

_Gohan stopped at the entrance and turned his head to the guard. He then lifted his right arm and point at the guard. The guard wondered what the boy was doing, when he felt an excoriating burning pain go through his chest. Looking down, he then noticed a singed whole in his shirt. Unable to hold the gun from the pain, he dropped it and fell to his knees, clutching his heart in agony._

_Gohan frowned. "Anyone else wanna play hero," he said._

_Everyone around moved back until there were against the wall. Smirking once again, Gohan just walked out of the bank before the police could find him._

Gohan looked back on that memory as his first kill. Not like when he killed Cell or the Spice Boys when those death had been in defence of the earth, no that death was murder, and helped him earn a reputation as a fearless and dedicated mercenary. As Gohan reached his apartment, he Saiyan nose caught a power scent. The scent of many. Smirking he opened the door to find his apartment completely covered in shadow.

"Hello, anyone home," called Gohan as he flipped the switch.

There he saw roughly thirty armed thugs cramped all around his apartment. In his living room sat a young man, about twenty or so, with neatly cut blonde hair and sophisticated blue eyes. His business suit displayed that he had money to flaunt around. "Mr. Gohan, a pleasure to see you again," said the man.

Gohan's smirk grew. "Zachary Paladin? In my humble home? You do me a great honour sir," said Gohan, sarcastically.

The mans face didn't change. "My grandfather is less than pleased with your performance as of late, Mr. Gohan,"

Gohan made his way to the fridge to find it was almost empty. Glaring at the thugs he said "Did you eat my food,"

One of the thugs snickered as Gohan sighed and grabbed an apple. Turning to Zachary he said "Mind telling me what is so unsatisfactory about my work,"

"You flirt too much with female personnel, not too mention enemy personnel. We know you kissed that Satan brat today," said Zachary.

"You're paying me to rob banks and protect people you deem important. You want me too keep my hands to myself, you should have specified that in my contract," said Gohan.

Zachary shook his head. "My grandfather has ordered for your termination, both from the Syndicate and from life,"

Gohan leaned against the wall as he finished off his apple. "You know I've always admired Adrian, has a good mind for strategy."

"What do you mean?" Zachary said with a curious look.

Gohan gestured to the thugs surrounding him. "He sends thirty heavily armed thugs to kill one guy. A bit of an overkill but it works, after all I'm only guy. But he also send you, because you're one of his grandchildren, and to kill you would have a bounty the size Texas on my head." Gohan paused for a minute. "But then there is also the off chance that I do manage to kill you and the other gentlemen. If that does happen he would have send the people that would cost him less. I'm betting that these men are little more then fresh recruits. So rather risk skilled veterans who would be much more useful doing other stuff, he throws a bunch of untrained hoods into the den, hopefully they won't be eaten," Gohan paused again and then pointed at Zachary. "And then there's you. If I do kill you I'm practically inviting every bounty hunter to come after me, but at least it's not a huge set back for your grandfather,"

"I'm not sure I follow," said Zachary, as a man behind him polished his brass knuckles.

"Then let me spell it out for you. You're expendable," smirked Gohan, as his words sunk in.

Zachary growled. "I am a member of the Paladin family; I am in no way expendable."

"You are one of twenty-six members of the Paladin family and the least experienced," said Gohan. He walked over to the nearest thug who just scowled at him. Gohan, not appreciating the gesture, imbedded the side of his hand into the thugs throat, crushing his wind pipe. "You are expendable, all of you. If you can kill me great, one else guy for the Syndicate to take care of. But if you don't well no biggy, at least he doesn't have to pay for unskilled thugs any more,"

Zachary growled some more. He turned to the thugs and said "What are you waiting for, kill the little punk,"

Gohan smirked as he dropped down into a fighting stance, and thought back to the time when the Syndicate sent him to protect their interests in China.

_Gohan surveyed the burning village as rebels fled, trying to escape the raging inferno. This village had been housing rebels who were not only causing problems for the Chinese government but had found several weapon caches belonging to the Black Syndicate and were looking for others. So to rid themselves of this problem, the Syndicate and the Chinese government entered an alliance with each other and sent forces to find and exterminate the rebels. _

_Gohan and a small group of Chinese soldiers from the main army had been sent to this village to find any rebels. As soon as they entered the village the rebels opened fire, killing most of the soldiers. Gohan however sensed for the rebel's energy signatures and sent blasts towards them. The village was almost instantly a blaze. _

_As the rebels retreated Gohan felt someone approach him from behind. He turned around to see a young boy maybe a year younger than himself, holding a rifle. Gohan simply stared at the boy. "You might wanna run, kid. When the army sees he smoke their gonna investigate, and probably convict anyone here of treason," he said. _

_The boy just glared at Gohan. "You have no business here," said the boy._

_Gohan sighed. "I'm being paid to be here, trust me it's my business," said Gohan._

_The boy lifted his rifle and aimed at Gohan. "For my parents," said the boy, as made to pull the trigger._

_All of a sudden Gohan heard another shot south of the village and saw the boy fall down, blood pouring out from the gun shot wound in his head. Looking in the distance, Gohan could see a sniper standing up and walking off to join his battalion. Looking back at the boy, Gohan sighed again. "Lucky kid, he had hope till the end, thinking he could avenge his parents. He never has to find out how cold the world is," he said as he walked off to find the Chinese general._

As Gohan came back to reality, he saw the various corpses and body pieces of what had been his assassins. Zachary Paladin's confidence had gone and he had been reduced to nothing more than a quivering wreck, curled up in Gohan's chair and weeping like a child. _'I wasn't even paying attention and I slaughtered them all like animals'_ thought Gohan as he walked over to Zachary. Placing two fingers on the young crime lords head, Gohan let out another sigh.

"We are all expendable,"


	4. Scratch'n'Sniff Contracts

**WARNING**: This chapter contains sexual references, proceed at your own discretion

_Contract. An agreement of some description, usually in the form of writing._

_I have no real love for the word. When I was a little young I used to ask my dad to help me train. His reply was always 'I can't sweetie; daddy's gotta go make a contract'. Back then I thought that was is reason for keeping us in our nice home. Now I realise that they are just fuel for his greed. He lives is life by one simple equation. More contractsmore money. _

_You may think its silly, hating a few scarps of paper so much, but I hate what those papers represent. For my dad they represent opportunity and money, for me they represent separation, isolation, greed and entrapment. But I suppose that would mean that my father was forced into those contracts against his will._

"Damn those bozo's to HFIL," Gohan cursed as he scavenged around his apartment, looking for food.

Before he had arrived to the platoon of thugs, he had hoped that he would able to make himself a nice meal. But as it turns out, the thugs had helped themselves to all of Gohan's food, and now that they were dead, Gohan was left with practically no food and an apartment littered with body parts and the smell of blood. The smell didn't bother Gohan that much, just that he really needed food, or else his Saiyan instinct would take control and he would start to devour to dead bodies.

"Ew," said Gohan, looking disgusted. "I'd liked to think that I haven't sunk that low,"

Growling, Gohan managed to find a packet of 2 minute noodles. Flipping over the bad he checked the use by date. Apparently those noodles had expired about a year or two before Gohan even moved in. Gohan dropped the noodles like it was contaminated and blasted it.

"Dammit, I really need some food," said Gohan, sighing.

Making his way over to the living room where all the deceased were, he looted there wallets and weapons. While most of them only had about twenty dollars on them, Zachary Paladin had easily five grand. Grinning, Gohan made his way to his telephone, carefully stepping over the body parts. Gohan then dialled the number of the Chinese take away place down the street.

"Yea hi, I'd like… um, eight servings of sweet and sour pork, five servings of the beef, and six servings of the lemon chicken. Oh yea ad some won ton soup and a hundred fortune cookies…. One hour... Cool, thanks," said Gohan, hanging up, as his stomach gave another growl.

As Gohan rubbed his stomach, trying to calm it down, he heard a knock at the door. "Goddamn that was fast," said Gohan.

Teleporting to the door, he opened it to find not a man delivering Chinese, but rather a young man, maybe around twenty-one or so, wearing a smart business suit and short brown hair. The young man looked at Gohan. "Are you the mercenary Gohan?"

Gohan nodded, giving the man in front of him a look of distrust. "I am, and who the hell are you,"

"I'm Alphonse Elric, of the Satan Administration Department of Law and Justice," he said, holding out his hand.

Gohan hesitantly took his hand. "What's a member of the Satan Administration doing here in the Vanguard district," Gohan asked releasing his hand.

"I'm here to organise a meeting with you, Edward Elric, Head of Law and Justice, and Roy Mustang, the Mayor of Satan City. They wish to discuss a new contract with you," said Alphonse.

Gohan showed Alphonse in. "Ignore the decomposing bodies in the next room, please," he said as he showed him to the kitchen.

Alphonse, who had become very pale, kept glancing at the living room. Gohan who noticed this said, "Don't worry, they're all Syndicate thugs." This did not bring the colour back to his face.

Gohan shook his head. "Ok can you please tell me exactly, what you are doing here?"

Taking one last nervous glance towards, Alphonse spoke. "Uh… yes… done to business then," Alphonse was sweating slightly. "The Satan Administration has heard of your termination, and wanted to be the first to make a new contract."

Gohan nodded. "Would you like a glass of water Mr Elric," and with a slight smirk added, "apart from the usual crap, there's nothing in it."

As Alphonse's face paled once more, Gohan wondered if his face could actually hold blood. Getting up, Gohan grabbed a clean glass and got some water from the tap. Gohan then handed the glass to Alphonse who slammed it down, a little colour returning to his face. Gohan shook his head. "Look pal, as long as you don't piss me off, you'll be fine,"

Alphonse nodded, though still held an air of nervousness around him. "Mr Elric would like to know when you will be available tomorrow, so you can meet with him and Mr Mustang to discuss a contract."

"Just outta curiosity, are you related to the other Elric guy," said Gohan.

Alphonse nodded. "Edward Elric is my older brother," he said.

"Just wanted to clear that up," said Gohan. Going silent for a minute he finally said, "How does noon sound?"

"Noon will be fine," said Alphonse. "Just go to the City Hall tomorrow and tell them who you are and who you're meant to see. They'll tell you where to go,"

Gohan nodded. "Well if that's all I'll show you to the door and not keep you further," he said.

Alphonse nodded getting up and making his way to the door. As he was leaving, he reached into his briefcase and pulled out a couple of sheets of paper and handed them to Gohan. "Before I leave, here's a brief outline of the contract. You'll be given a full copy tomorrow," he said.

Gohan took the papers and shook hands with the young, before he made his way back to the City Hall. Once again stepping over the corpses, he made his way to his bloodied up sofa, and began to read through the outline, while waiting for his food.

&

Gohan looked up at the City Hall. It was a twelve story building, with the words 'City Hall' on top of the entrance. On top of the building were seven flag poles, the middle flag was the flag of Satan city, and the others were that of various allies and minorities.

Gohan smirked at the time he was here last. The last mayor, King Bradley, had been kicked out of office because he was firmly on the pay roll of the Syndicate. When he was caught accepting a bribe, he was removed from office and exiled out of Satan city. In retaliation for losing one of their puppets, Gohan was sent to cause some damage to the hall. So he set off a small bomb in the basement, causing nothing more than a lot of panic. When his superiors reprimanded him for doing so little damage he simply said, "I do things my way. You don't like it, get someone else to do it," then causally reminding them how many people he killed in China.

"Naturally, I'm not gonna tell them that," he said to himself. After reading the outline last night, he decided that the Administration was offering quite a good deal. They were paying him less than the Syndicate, but there were may added bonuses, such as health care, over time, and best of all a fully provided for house, complete with weekly food deliveries. That was pretty much the selling point for Gohan.

Gohan made his way into the building that he had once tried to blow up. Inside was a nice mahogany bench where a young woman was working. She had short brown hair and her bright brown eyes were covered by large brimmed glasses. When Gohan looked over the desk he saw that instead of doing work, she was reading a book, which Gohan recognised as being Oliver Twist. Gohan cleared his throat to get her attention. She didn't budge. "Um… excuse me miss?" Gohan said. Still nothing.

Gohan was known for several things, but patience wasn't really one of them. Growling, he placed his thumb and his middle finger and clicked. The sound echoed through the otherwise empty halls, and yet the young secretary didn't move a muscle. Gohan placed his fingers together again, but this time put some energy behind. The result…

BOOM.

Gohan smirked as he had obtained the desired response. He shook the office up and gave the brunette a scare of her life. Picking up her book from the floor, she looked at Gohan. "Oh I'm so sorry, I must have gotten too involved in my book," she said apologetically.

Gohan just looked at her like she was nuts. "Riiiiight, whatever. I have an appointment with Edward Elric," Gohan said.

The woman nodded. "Of course you must be the mercenary, Gohan," she said as Gohan nodded in confirmation. "Hold on one moment, I'll let Mr. Elric known you're here," She moved towards to intercom. "Mr. Elric, Mr. Gohan is here to see you," the panted reply saying, "Ok… send him in,"

The young woman point down the right hall. "Mr. Elric's office is ninth floor; the elevators are just to your right down the hall."

Gohan gave her a little wave as she went back to her book. Gohan entered the elevator and pressed the ninths button. Gohan begun to wonder what kind of person Edward Elric would be. Would be timid and nervous when faced with a superior foe like his brother, or would he be headstrong and face down his opponent. Gohan's thoughts were interrupted by a robotic feminine voice saying "ninth floor, Department of Law and Justice. Have a nice day,"

Gohan exited the elevator and made his way to the door at the end which said _Edward Elric, Head of Department_. As he got to the door, it flew open with another young women walking out. This woman was tall, blonde hair and blue eyes and wore black mini skirt that made Gohan take a longer look at her legs. The older woman at the desk, who Gohan assumed was Elric's secretary shook her head disapprovingly at the young woman, who just blushed slightly. When she walked past Gohan, he sniffed, which caused the woman to blush more. Gohan smirked. She smelt of sweat, sex and for some reason chocolate. Of course Gohan could probably figure out what they used the chocolate for.

These dirty thoughts were interrupted by someone clearly his throat. Gohan turned around to see a short blonde haired man, wearing a black business suit with a dark blue tie and white gloves. His golden eyes were glaring straight at Gohan. "Mr. Gohan I would appreciate it if you didn't ogle my wife," he said, his voice young and brash.

Gohan raised an eyebrow. "That woman is your wife?" he said, to which Edward nodded. Gohan rubbed his chin. "You know I thought she would have been your mistress, but with a wife that hot, why would you need one,"

Edward just growled. "Quite," he said. Closing the door to his office behind him he said "If you could come this way please, we're meeting the Mayor in his office."

Gohan nodded and Edward just led him back to the elevator, where he selected floor number twelve. As the elevator took off, Gohan caught a strange scent, one that he wasn't excepting to find in an elevator. "Do you smell that," Gohan asked Edward.

Edward sniffed. "Smell what," he replied.

'_Duh, humans don't have heightened Saiyan senses'_ Gohan thought as he said "oil,"

Edward nodded as he took of the glove of his right hand. Instead of the pink colour of flesh, there was the cold grey of steel. "Automail," said Gohan instantly.

Edward nodded, putting his glove back on. "Before I started to work for the Administration I was a soldier, along with Roy Mustang, who was a Colonel. We were helping some refugee's from the north get over the Satan border when we were attacked by militants. We won, and we saved the refugee's but I lost an arm and a leg, and Mustang lost an eye," said Edward.

"So how'd you get Automail, and still have such a hot wife," Gohan asked.

At this Edward smirked. "She's my mechanic,"

Gohan nodded, in understanding. They arrived at the twelfth floor in silence after that. With the doors opening, Edward led Gohan out of the elevator to another door, this time saying _Roy Mustang, Mayor_. Gohan also noticed an empty desk in front, with a sign saying _Riza Hawkeye._ Edward knocked on the door. "Mr. Mustang," called out Edward, with a pained expression. "Mr. Gohan and I are here,"

Gohan could here rushed movement for several minutes behind the door, before it swung open and two people walked out. The first was a tall blonde woman, wearing a knee length skirt and a matching navy blue jacket. As she approached her desk she smoothed out her skirt, and Gohan caught the same scent as he found on Edward's wife, minus the chocolate. The second was a fairly tall man, with short black hair and a patch over one eye. His suit was more or else the same as Edwards, with a maroon tie instead of dark blue. There was an awkward silence as Gohan looked between Edward, the woman he assumed was Riza Hawkeye, and Roy Mustang. Finally he said, "So… do I get a sexy blonde in my contract,"

Riza blushed from her desk as she proceeded to type something on her computer, while the two men just growled. "No I'm afraid not," said Roy.

Gohan shrugged. "Oh well maybe next time," he said.

Roy motioned Edward and Gohan into his office. Sitting behind his desk, he offered two chairs for Edward and Gohan. "So Mr. Gohan, did you read the outline," asked Roy.

Gohan nodded. "Yep. Gotta hand it to you guys, you sure do know how to make a good deal," he said.

Roy pulled out his drawer and got out a stack of papers and handed it too Gohan. "This is the full contract, which requires all our signatures, plus a witness, which we shall use Miss. Hawkeye. Nothing from the outline has been taken out, but several things have been added too the contract," said Roy.

As Roy spoke just flipped threw the contract, without actually reading it. "Where do I sign," he said.

Both men looked at him. "Aren't you gonna read it," asked Edward.

"I'll read it later," Gohan replied.

Both men smirked as Roy handed him a pen. As Gohan signed, Roy said "I feel I should mention that you will be assigned as Videl Satan's partner as a last line of defence in the police force,"

Gohan handed the contract to the mayor. "Sounds like fun," he said.

Roy signed the contract and handed it to Edward. "Also take this," said Roy, pulling another stack of papers. "It's a copy of the contract so you can read it later," as he handed Gohan a copy of the contract.

"Cool," said Gohan. "Well if that's it, I'll be going,"

The two men nodded as Gohan got up to leave and exited the room. Glancing at Riza, who was still blushing, he flipped through the contract again. Pretty much what was in the outline he got from the night before. However, Gohan soon saw something that perked his interest, and not in a good way.

Gohan looked very closely at the words that were written on the paper to make sure they were correct. And indeed they were.

&

"He's gonna kill us isn't he," said Edward, taking a sip of brandy.

Roy nodded. "Probably, but he is an honourable person for a mercenary, or so I hear. He'll honour our contract at least. At least this way we have a better chance of controlling him and Videl,"

Edward sighed. "Karma's gonna bite us in the ass one day, you do know that right,"

Roy nodded again. "Of course it is,"

"SON OF A BITCH," came Gohan's yelled from outside the office.

Roy smirked. "I think he's found it,"

A/N Sorry this chap took too long just couldn't get in the mood to write. Also don't except the next chapter for a while, cause I have exams coming up, so I'm gonna be preparing for them. And I should mention that the characters, Edward and Alphonse Elric, Winry Rockbell (or Elric in this fic, cause she's Ed's wife) Scieszka (the woman who kept reading) Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye aren't original characters. They come from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist, and if my description of them wasn't good enough who can just google the characters.


	5. Gohan's First Day: Starting Anew

_I am bound by honour, and it's pissing me off._

_I am a killer, a murderer, with as little as possible honour and mercy flowing through my veins. I kill men, I kill women, and I kill children all for a few coin. Well ok, it's a bit more than a 'few coin', but you get the general idea. Despite my murderous ways, I do have some honour. If my contract ever says I do something then that's what I do. The Syndicate never really got that, but the Administration did, and, boy, am I paying for it now. _

&&&

"For the record, I hate you," Gohan said glaring at his target.

His target, Edward Elric, accompanied by his wife Winry Elric, just smirked. "As long as you follow your contract, I don't care," he said.

The trio were driving from Gohan's new home, which was located in the more upmarket area, to his new place of appointment, where he would be spending most of his time until he was called, much like Videl. Gohan just growled at the aspect of staying at such a place when he could be doing something useful. As of yet he hadn't found anything, but it couldn't be that hard could it.

"Why are you people making me go to this crap hole anyway," growled Gohan.

"Because we feel that everyone is entitled to these kinds of services," said Ed, as he turned into the drive way.

"Elric, if you're gonna feed me bull shit, try to make it convincing," said Gohan, quite anxious to maim something.

Ed just laughed. "We're here Gohan,"

Gohan just rolled his eyes. "Yes thank you, I never would have guess from all the _people_, and I use that term loosely, that we had arrived," he said sarcastically, as he got out of the car.

"Have fun Gohan," said Winry, winking at him.

Gohan looked at the young woman. After a more formal meeting the previous day, she had become somewhat of a big sister to the young mercenary. While being openly annoyed with such gestures, Gohan admired her kindness, to help support a complete stranger. Closing the door he faced the building where he would be spending the majority of his term of employment. "Hey Gohan," called Ed.

"What," snapped Gohan.

"Did you remember your lunch," snickered Ed as he sped off.

Gohan growled like a wild animal being mocked by its prey. "JUST YOU WAIT ELRIC," yelled Gohan at the retreating car, earning a few stares from several people.

Gohan let out a sigh. "This is cruel and unusual," he grumbled as he looked up to the letters on the entrance of the build. _'Orange Star High School_. _Bah, what stoner thought that name up' _he thought bitterly, as he went to collect his schedule.

&&&

Videl yawned as she stretched her arms. She hadn't been sleeping well ever since Gohan kissed, her mind often being plagued with thoughts. It was her first kiss, despite it being so small, and she was somewhat upset that it wasn't with someone she loved. However, Gohan was quite attractive, so being kissed by him wasn't such a bad thing. She let out a sigh. _'He's still a perverted asshole'_ thought Videl.

Videl watched as her homeroom teacher, Ms. Chidori, walked in. Ms Kaname Chidori was one of the more popular teachers. The female population admired her for her elegance, her beauty, her independence and her fiery temper (which had quite a large area of effect). The male population, however, mostly admired her for her chest, her long creamy legs and her short skirts. Some boys, like Sharpner (and others with steady girl-friends) and the intellectuals, were a little more polite when conducting a conversation with the young teacher. The more macho guys, on the other hand, didn't bother to hide their attraction the young teacher and openly tried to get in her pants. Needless to say they didn't try again when they got back from the hospital.

Kaname made her way to her desk, all eyes on her. What Videl admired about her the most was how she knew she was well liked, and yet she just took it all in stride. "Class," said Kaname. "I have two announcements to make,"

Videl heard on of the boys behind her make a rude comment, but Kaname didn't let on that she heard it. "Firstly, Miss. Edwards is getting married next weekend and won't be returning to school for the rest of the year. Therefore I will be taking Miss. Edwards history class for that time," Videl smiled at that. She liked Miss. Edwards, but the woman couldn't control the horny perverts in the class, making the class kind of difficult. Kaname could control anyone.

"And lastly we have a new student," said Kaname, as ears perked up and murmurs swept through the class. A new student either meant a new friend, a new boyfriend/girlfriend, a new bully or a new target. Videl just closed her eyes and rested her head on hands. A new student for her usually meant a new admirer, and she really didn't need any more.

"He has never been to school before, so I want you all to behave yourselves," said Kaname. She turned towards the door and motioned the new student to come in. "Would you like to introduce yourself," she said to the new boy.

Videl opened one eye to have a look at the new student. When she did however she got the shock of her life. "GOHAN," she screamed.

Gohan looked to the where she was and smirked. "I think little Miss Champion over there beat me too it,"

Videl went beat red as Kaname shook her head. Turning to Gohan once again she said "Do you have anything to say about yourself,"

Gohan nodded and turned towards the class, glaring hard. "Alright you morons, you get one warning. I am not here by choice and am not in a good mood because of it. Anyone who worsens my mood further will have their asses handed to them, as Vi over there can attests to," he growled.

Videl blushed again as she felt all eyes on her. Had this guy beaten Videl, daughter of Hercule and strongest person in the school? Most didn't believe, the rest didn't want to believe. Kaname scowled at the young man. "Usually people start making threats after they get settled in,"

Gohan simply shrugged. "You'll find I'm very _un_usual, Miss," he said.

Kaname shook her head. Looking over the class for a bit she said "Seeing as you already know Videl, you may sit next to her."

Videl felt her heart sink as he made his way up to her desk. Gohan was not going to be helpful at all. As he sat down he said "Hey Vi,"

Videl just growled. "Did the Syndicate decide you were too stupid to work for them?"

Gohan shook his head. "Nope, those ungrateful bastards tried to kill me, so now I'm working for the Administration and the city police. And guess who my partner is," he said, adding a smirk.

"Who?" said Videl, though she had a very good idea who.

"A hot little thing named Videl Satan," said Gohan smirking more and watching her reaction.

Videl just dropped her head onto the desk, making a loud noise. "And I thought my head was thick," mumbled Gohan.

Videl glared at him again. "You're not going to make my life easy are you," she said.

Again Gohan shook his head. "Sorry Vi, but if everything in life was easy then nothing would be worthwhile."

"Who'd you steal that phrase from,"

"Dunno, some dead guy who wrote something,"

"Urg," moaned Videl as her head hit the desk again.

"You know sooner or later, if you keep doing that, all your brain cells will just die," said Gohan, smirking at her.

"That may not be such a bad thing, if it means getting away from you" growled the young woman. "I suppose you're in all my classes as well,"

Gohan nodded. "Fraid so Vi,"

It was going to be a long day for Videl Satan.

&&&

"So what can you tell me about my teachers Vi," said Gohan, as they walked to their next class, physical education.

"What do you mean," Videl questioned.

"Tell me a little about their characters and that," he replied.

"Why,"

"Cause I like to know what I'm up against before I go into battle," Gohan said, closing his eyes and folding his arms.

Videl rolled her eyes. "Figures you'd be the paranoid type,"

Gohan opened his eyes to glare at her. "I AM not paranoid, just cautious," he growled.

Videl smirked at his reaction. "Well I suppose it can't hurt to let you know some things about them I guess. Let me see," Videl thought for a minute then continued. "Well first is Ms. Chidori. She's really smart, almost too smart to be a teacher, and knows a lot about everything. She has a bit of a temper, but as long as you follow her instructions, she'll be fine,"

Gohan nodded. "She has a commanding aura,"

Videl returned his nod. "Our next class will be taught by Mr. Katayama. He's really clever and agile, and sees everything as a big game. Everyone likes him, but he has a high code of honour as well, so don't disrespect anyone in his class. Then for English we have Mrs. Himura. She's nice but has a bit of a temper like Ms. Chidori. Oh and she really gets pissed off when you say she can't do something,"

"Hmm sounds familiar," teased Gohan. Videl ignored him.

"After English we have maths with Mr. Izumi. He's a little timid, but really smart as well, probably too smart to be teaching high school. Next we have Science with Mr. Kido. I think he used to be a doctor. Anyway, he gets really annoyed with people when they don't do their homework, and lastly we get a free period, so we can catch up on any classes we miss," finished Videl.

Gohan nodded. "Well let's hurry then, we can't deny Mr. Katayama the pleasure of meeting me any longer,"

Videl just rolled her eyes.

&&&

"So you're the new student eh?" said Gorobei Katayama, the gym teacher.

Gohan looked the man up and down. Gorobei, though in his late sixties, appeared to be physically superior to the rest of the class, with the exception of himself and Videl. He nodded. "I'm Gohan,"

Gorobei smirked slightly. "Gohan eh? Any relation to Son Gohan?"

Gohan's eyes widened, a reaction that did not go unnoticed by Videl, though the rest of the class ignored it. "Uh… no," stammered the young man. It wasn't really a lie, he told himself. Son Gohan and he had no _blood_ relation.

The older man just smiled with a cunning glint in his eye. "Too bad, the man was a brilliant fighter. Though you look like a bit of a fighter yourself,"

Gohan regained his cocky attitude and smirked. "You better believe it," he said folding his arm.

"Good, because we're just starting martial arts today, and if you don't mind, I'd like to spar with you, just to try you out," said Gorobei, dropping down into a fighting stance.

Gohan looked at the man's stance. It was defensive, meaning that he excepted his opponent to begin to attack. Gohan nodded, and dropped down into an offensive stance, preparing his assault. Naturally he was going to hold back, but was caught off guard when Gorobei leapt forward with inhuman speed. Quickly Gohan brought up his defence, blocking the teachers open hand strike to the throat. Gohan then grabbed the man's armed and tried to flip him over. Pivoting on his feet, Gorobei turned the attack against Gohan, instead flipping him other.

Gohan lay on the floor, his arm held in place by the teacher. Some of the students snickered at the cocky boy who had been beaten easily. Videl just smirked, seeing Gohan taken down. He tried to struggle a bit, but Gorobei just said. "The only way going to get out of this young man, is by dislocating your arm,"

Gohan just smirked. "Don't underestimate my resolve old man,"

With a loud crack, Gohan shifted his shoulder violently and did a one handed cart wheel to get away. Once at a safe distance, he popped his arm back into place with another sickening crack. The snickering immediately stopped replaced by sounds of gasping, and Videl's smirked had been wiped from her face, replaced by a look of horror. Only Gorobei was smiling. "Well done Gohan," he said with a clap. "That will do for today, but we shall spar again soon. It feels good to spar against someone closer to your level doesn't it?"

Gohan nodded, getting out of this stance. He was going to like this man. Turning to the rest of the class Gorobei said. "Alright class let's get started,"

&&&

When gym finished, Gohan made his way to English, leaving behind a trail of whispers from the rest of the class.

"Did you see what he did?"

"Did you HEAR it?"

"How can you do that to yourself?"

"He's probably got a self abusing personality?"

Gohan smirked. If he as going to remain at this cursed place, then he was going to install such fear that even Jack the Ripper would be quaking in his boots. Gohan chuckled as the rumours spread like wildfire and several people tried to discretely glance at him. Gohan slowed down a little when he heard Videl running up behind him. Turning to her, he said "What's up Vi,"

Videl just looked at him like he was crazy. _'She probably thinks I am' _thought Gohan. "You dislocated your own shoulder just to win a spar!" she said, exasperated. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Silly girl, no one wins a spar. I was just showing Mr. Katayama not to underestimate his opponent. I made that mistake by thinking he would take the defensive when he took that stance," said Gohan as he turned and continued walking.

Videl sighed and began to follow him. Suddenly she realise something. "Hang on, how do you know that the English room is this is way," she said.

Gohan pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it too her. "They gave me a map with my schedule," he said simply.

Videl shook her head. "You're weird." Gohan just laughed

&&&

Gohan and Videl walked into the classroom to find a tall and slender woman with long black hair writing something on the board. Once she finished writing, she turned to the two fighters. "Oh hello, Videl and who is this handsome young man," said the woman, who Gohan assumed was Kaoru Himura.

Smirking at the comment, he was about to respond when Videl quickly beat him. "This is the new student Gohan, and please don't give him any kind of compliment, his head as big enough as it is," she said.

As Kaoru laughed at them, Gohan pouted and mumbled "I do not have a big head."

Videl chuckled slightly at the mercenary's response. "So Mr. Gohan," started Kaoru. "How do you like school so far?"

Once again Videl answered before Gohan. "He dislocated his own arm, just to win a spar against Mr. Katayama," she said quickly, earning a glare from Gohan.

"It's rude to continuously interrupt people you know," Videl just shrugged.

Both teens looked back to Kaoru, whose smile had fallen. "You… dislocated your own arm? What on earth for?" asked Kaoru.

"To prove something," he said simply.

"Are…" started Kaoru, choking a little "Are you a solider?"

Gohan shrugged. "More of a mercenary than anything else,"

He saw tears well up in her eyes, and with his Saiyan hearing, heard her whisper with a far away look in her eyes, 'Kenshin'. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she said "I'm sorry, just some… bad memories," letting out a sigh she continued "My husband was in the Jehol Conflict as a member the Samurai Legion,"

Videl let out a small gasp, and Gohan's eyes softened. The Jehol Conflict was the small war, about a year ago, in China's north east, in which the Japanese Coalition and Chinese Empire clashed forced. A group of rebels in Jehol (who were supported by the Japanese Coalition) wanted independence. The government wasn't going to allow that, so Coalition and Imperial forces fought each other. The Samurai Legion, led by General Kanbei Shimada, was one of the most feared forces in the conflict. However, out of a thousand men, only twelve ever made in back home, Kanbei Shimada being amongst the dead. Though the survivors never fully explained what happened, it was gathered that the Legion encountered a lone enemy which managed to devastate it. Gohan swallowed. "Was your husband one of the survivor's," he asked.

Kaoru nodded. "Yeah he was. But before I heard he was alive I was depressed and sick with worry. Doesn't make it any easier now that he's quit fighting for good, because I remember how worried I had been last time,"

Gohan let out his breathe that he didn't even know he was holding. Videl noticed this, and wondered why he would be so worried about whether Kaoru's husband had survived the Samurai Massacre or not. Videl tried to shrug it of as Gohan trying to make a good impression, but she couldn't help the feeling that he had more of a connection with the Massacre then he let on.

Kaoru managed to compose herself a little before looking back at Gohan. "To be a warrior at such a young age… How on earth did you survive?"

Gohan's eyes softened further before he answered "By either overcoming or removing my obstacle."

Kaoru nodded, and for the first time in the past few months, Videl felt sympathy for Gohan. After all he was only fourteen, how does someone become a mercenary at such a young age.

&&&

Gohan walked out of the English, once again bearing a smirk on his face. Word of his desperation, if you could call it that, was spreading fast. His peers, something he said with much distaste, could hardly look at him without fear. This suited Gohan perfectly. "Hey Gohan wait up," called a voice from behind.

Gohan looked to see Videl chasing him again. "Now what," he said.

Videl looked at the ground for a minute. "Can I ask you a question," she asked.

Gohan shrugged. "I guess, doesn't mean I'll answer though,"

Videl looked up at him. "Well, you're a killer aren't you? I mean I've seen you kill people, officers, bystanders, hostages anyone who gets in your way. You're a mercenary who does anything his employer tells him too, as long as you're paid, right?" she said.

Gohan looked unmoved by her question. "I'm not exactly sure I see where this is going,"

"Well," Videl said, looking around, to see if anyone was near by. "What I wanted to know is, how does someone become a ruthless mercenary and a skilled soldier at the young age of fourteen,"

Gohan's eyes narrowed, glaring at Videl. "Sorry Vi, but I am not going to answer that," he said, turning away from the young woman.

"What? Why not?" she questioned.

Gohan remained silent for a minute before saying "Would you tell me the last thing you said to your mother, or the last thing she aid to you,"

Videl was shocked. She hadn't expected that response from Gohan. The mercenary continued. "You wouldn't tell me because that event is very personal and very dear to you. I may be a murderer, but I will not pry into a past that you have no intention of sharing with me. Likewise, I must ask you to do the same," Gohan finished in total seriousness.

"I'm sorry," said Videl, hanging her head low.

Gohan looked over his shoulder at the young girl. "Don't worry about, you were curious and asking questions is the only way you learn," he let out a long sigh. "Look, common sense is advising me against this, but we're going to be working together a lot, so lets start over,"

He moved to face Videl and held out his hand. "Hi, my name is Gohan. I'm a teenaged mercenary now working for the Satan Administration, and hating those double faced politicians,"

Videl smiled and took his hand. "Hey there, my name is Videl Satan. I'm the daughter the Hercule, champion of the world and the man with the worst afro ever,"

Gohan chuckled at this. "You know, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship," which caused Videl to laughed.

Releasing his hand, Videl asked Gohan "Hey, would you like to meet my friends, Sharpner and Erasa,"

Gohan shrugged again. "Why not? I'm sure they'd love to meet me," he said smirking.

Videl shook her head, though she was still smiling.

A/N. Hey there everyone. Sorry bout this chap being late. I was going to make it long but instead decided to move everything back one chap and have what I was going to have for the last part of this chapter as the next one, if that makes sense. Also let me know how I can make this better.


	6. Gohan's First Day: A Matter of Pride

A/N. thank you to everyone who reviewed. Last chapter I also forget to tell you who the teachers are so I'll do it now. The PE teacher was Gorobei Katayama, from Samurai 7, same with the mentioned Kanbei Shimada. The other samurai will be mentioned or featured in this fic, I'll just see where they can fit in. Kaoru Kamiya, or Kaoru Himura because I made her married in this fic is from Rurouni Kenshin. Other characters from RK will be included as well, as in this fic, Hajime Saitoh (who was a real person in life) will be the school principle. Kaname Chidori is from Full Metal Panic, and I intend to have her husband Sousuke Sagara (in my story their married) in here as well. Kaname and Kaoru will sort of be like adoptive mothers to Gohan and Videl. Also the teachers Izumi and Kido are Izzy Izumi and Joe Kido from digimon, which I have absolutely no intention of developing. As to why I'm using characters from other anime well I couldn't really be bothered creating whole new characters from scratch. Using these characters gives me the basis of their personalities rather than make up completely random ones. I will however be making some original characters. Hope that clears a few things up for you. Also I'm not really a Goku hater; it just works well in this story. I'm still debating on whether I should have Goku redeem himself in Gohan's eyes, or condemn himself further. You guys let me know what you think. And I feel I should add a disclaimer, even though there's one in my profile.

DISCLAIMER: I, Ash or Zephyr of the Shadows as I call myself, do not own any of the characters featured in this story.

_Pride._

_In Christianity, pride is one of the seven deadly sins. The others include lust, gluttony, wrath, greed, envy and sloth. But what some people see as sin, I see as nature. If a man sees a beautiful woman, isn't basic instinct that he should want to 'mate' with her? If he is hungry, then shouldn't he want to eat, in order to survive? If he is hurt and offended, then shouldn't he release his anger, to at the very least, make himself feel better? If he has little, or someone has more, then shouldn't he be jealous of those who have more and crave it? If he accomplishes something, then shouldn't he be proud of himself._

&&&

As Gohan and Videl walked into the lunch room, the previously very noisy student population immediately shut up and stared at the young mercenary and the champion's daughter. Videl stopped and looked over the student body with a worried face. Gohan on the other hand just kept walked for a few more paces, before realizing that Videl wasn't following him anymore. Turning around he asked. "I'm not psychic Videl, and I don't have a map to your friends,"

Videl just looked at him. "Doesn't it bother you, everyone staring like that?" she asked.

Gohan looked at the right side of the room, then the left, and then glared hard at the other students. This glare sent everyone else back to the daily business. Turning back to Videl he said, "There are you happy now,"

Videl just looked at him. Then she sighed. "You're not very social, are you?"

Gohan shook his head smirking. Videl sighed again and walked over to where Erasa and Sharpner were. As soon as Erasa saw she waved and smiled at her best friend. Sharpner gave his own little wave, but stopped when he saw Gohan. Gohan and Videl sat opposite to the two blonde, "Gohan," said Videl "This is Erasa and Sharpner. Guys this is Gohan."

Gohan gave a small nod in their direction, while Erasa looked somewhat worried, and Sharpner just stared at the young man. "Videl, why is he sitting here? I thought you hated him," said Sharpner finally.

Videl blushed a little. She then explained to the two about what Gohan did for a living, and why he was at the school. By the end of Videl's story, Erasa felt her worries were justified but Sharpner looked at Gohan intensely. This started to annoy the demi-Saiyan "Anything I can help you with Blondie," snapped Gohan, making Sharpner jump a bit.

The blonde man just glared a little at Gohan before saying "You should join the martial arts club," he said then added "Or the wrestling or boxing club,"

"Are you in either," said Gohan.

Sharpner nodded. "I'm in the wrestling club, but that club is dominated by a bunch of jerks, mostly the Edo family,"

"The Edo family?" queried Gohan.

Videl shuddered a little at their name. Sharpner continued. "There are a large, wealthy family that flaunt their wealth around like flags. Eight of the kid's still go to school here, but I hear there are four that have left school and another three in primary school."

Gohan's face fell slightly. "Fifth teen kids, what are their parents? Some kind of mutant rabbits?" exclaimed Gohan.

Sharpner sniggered a little. "Better not let them hear you. Family pride and honour is a big thing with them,"

Gohan just leaned back a little and put his hands behind his head. "Let the dumb asses come. I'm not afraid," then Gohan was struck with a thought. "Hang on a minute. Do you mean Edo as in Tokyo Edo, the wealthy industrialists?"

Sharpner nodded and with that nod, the young mercenary smirked. "Well I wouldn't worry at all about that then,"

The three students looked at the mercenary. "What do you mean," said Videl.

His smirked widened as Videl noticed a nasty glint in his eye. "Let's just say the saying 'Behind every great fortune, is a great misdeed' applies to the Edo family," he said.

"I haven't heard that saying before," piped Erasa.

Gohan shrugged. "I may have taken a few liberties with that quote. The point is that the Edo fortune was not made completely by legal means,"

Once again Sharpner just stared at him. _'Something tells me life is going to be interesting with him around'_ thought the blonde. As the students continued talking, a huge rush of students ran to the outside.

Videl stopped one of the kids. The boy seemed afraid to be so close with Videl Satan. "What's going on," Videl growled as the boy's eyes wondered to where they shouldn't.

"There's a fight going on outside. Saitama Edo is beating some kid up," said the boy, who bolted when she let him go.

"I'm assuming this Saitama is a son of Tokyo Edo," said Gohan, earning a confirming nod for Videl and Sharpner.

"Should we go see what's happening," asked Erasa.

Videl was about to say no, but not before Gohan interrupted her. "Yes let's go say hello," he said, following the crowd.

Videl shook her head and followed Gohan. Erasa and Sharpner, who didn't want to be left out, followed their friend.

&&&

As the four students approached the growing crowd, they could hear harsh words being yelled. Gohan assumed that they were directed at the victim. "Can you see anything," asked Gohan to Sharpner, who was slightly taller than him.

Sharpner shook his head. Gohan growled. "Alright then I'm gonna have to do this the hard way," he said sweeping his jacket and started pushing through the crowd.

Videl and the two blondes merely looked at each other and followed him. As they got through to the front, they saw a skinny and frail boy, maybe about sixteen, with curly blonde hair being pushed around by a much more muscular boy, probably eighteen. Behind the bigger boy were two other kids laughing at the boy on the floor. A girl wearing a short skirt and white shirt and a boy who was a little bit smaller than the one fighting. They all had the small kind of black hair and green eyes. Gohan turned to Videl. "So who are all these people," he asked.

"The one fighting is Saitama Edo, and the two behind him are, Sendai and Kitakyushu, his brother and sister," said Videl.

"And the nerd?"

"That's Brian Johnson. He's top of his year, and will probably graduate with high distinctions or something."

Gohan nodded, as Saitama began yelling at Johnson.

"Look, have you learned your lesson or what," Saitama practically yelled. He was putting on a show.

Johnson trembled in fear. "W-w-what lesson?" he stuttered.

Saitama picked up Johnson, and then threw him back down. "The lesson of respect. You really shouldn't have bumped into my sister like that," he said.

Gohan's eye twitched. "He bumped into the wench? THAT'S what this is about," he said out a loud.

This got the attention of the kids in the centre. "What did you say punk," growled Saitama.

Now everyone, including Videl, Erasa and Sharpner, looked at Gohan. "I'm just saying, don't you think your overreacting a little," he said.

Saitama glared at the mercenary. "What's your name, punk," he growled.

"Gohan, it's my first day here," Gohan replied. "Do you take pride in beating someone like Johnson here up?"

"What?" Saitama just looked at him weirdly. He then looked at Johnson and said "Sure,"

Gohan nodded with this answer. He then turned to Johnson. "Do you lift weights, Johnson," he asked the boy.

Johnson shook his head. "No,"

"Do you exercise for strength or for health?"

"Health,"

"Do you do any physical activity outside of walking to places?"

"No,"

"Is there a point to these questions," interrupted Saitama, not happy at being ignored.

Gohan turned back to the wrestler. "Certainly," he said. Gesturing to Johnson he continued. "You think that beating someone like Johnson is something to be proud of, correct," Saitama nodded.

"Are you proud of yourself when you beat up a person who could in no way fight back?" Saitama nodded again.

Gohan just sighed. "I see," he said simply.

Before Saitama or anyone else could react, the young mercenary disappeared and re-appeared with his hand around Saitama's throat. The boy's cocky attitude had vanished and was replaced and awe. Similar thoughts were going through everyone's head. How could anyone be as fast as to not only catch a wrestler like Saitama Edo off guard, but move faster than the eye could trace. Gohan glared at the wrestler he held. "Look at him," he pointed to Johnson who kneeled on the floor picking up his books. "What do you see?"

"I-I-I see a-a geek, a b-b-bookworm," stammered Saitama.

Gohan nodded, not lowering his glare. "He couldn't beat you in an arm wrestler, let alone a full blown fight. Now don't get me wrong, I honestly don't care what you do to the kid, it isn't any of my business. But there is no pride to be taken in defeating an opponent weaker than you; there is no pride in squashing insects," growled Gohan.

The demi-Saiyan let go of Saitama's neck, but not before giving him a hard shove. As Gohan turned to walk away, Saitama got up and spat out some dirt "So you think you tough shit now, don't ya," snarled Saitama.

His siblings, who had been rather quiet throughout the encounter, rushed to aid their older brother, glaring at Gohan the whole way. He just stopped walked and turned his glare to Saitama. "As I said," began Gohan. "There is no pride in squashing insects,"

Throughout the crowd there was a mutual gasp from everyone, save Videl. How could anyone talk down to an Edo in such away? Kitakyushu Edo was the first to recover. "How dare you?! Do you who our family is?" screamed Kitakyushu (who shall now just be Kita).

"Of course," chuckled Gohan, mockingly. "I probably know your family better than anyone else here. Your father is Tokyo Edo, a man who has made his fortune by owning a chain of factories, mostly cars and other large machinery."

Kita smirked at his little speech. "You know a bit about our father," she said arrogantly. "Good, then you'll know what will happens to people when they get in our way,"

Gohan shrugged, and looked at Kita in a sleepy manner. "Oh I reckon I'm fairly safe," said Gohan. Seeing Kita's and Sendai's curious looks he continued. "I know more about your father than you think, such as certain machines he shouldn't be making, and how they go to certain places they shouldn't be going."

Gohan smirked as soon as the faces of the Edo children fell. They knew what he was talking about, which made things easier. Moving closer so only they could hear him he said "Leave me alone, and I won't show the police the nice little file that could put your old man away for quite some time,"

Glaring at him, the Edo's helped up their elder sibling, and made their exit, as Gohan merely smirked. "I love being me," he said to himself.

As the crowd died down, Videl, Sharpner and Erasa came up to the young mercenary. "What was that about," said Erasa.

Gohan just continued to smirk and tapped the side of his nose. Finally he said "Let's go finish lunch,"

&&&

Math and Science went by without major incident. Unless you counted Gohan trying to kill some smartass for calling him homo sexual. _"It's not that being gay is bad, I just don't like the thought of making out with other guys," _he had said during lunch.

Videl smiled as she watched him eat. Gohan was definitely making an impression, even though he was unconcerned with what people thought of him. She supposes that's what she admired about him. He _hated _everyone equally, though he seemed to warm up to her. She could tell from this day, that her school life was only going to get more unusual with Gohan here, as opposed to dull and boring. Videl smiled again. Despite Gohan being arrogant asshole and a pervert jerk, she'd rather have him livening things up, rather than dull and boring.

And the more she thought about it, she came to realise that having her first kiss stolen by Gohan, really wasn't that bad.

&&&

Hajime Saitoh looked around and surveyed the teachers gathered. In total their was five, Kaname Chidori, history, Gorobei Katayama, PE, Kaoru Himura, English, Izzy Izumi, math and Joe Kido, science. As they took their seats, Saito began. "Anyone want to know why I've called you here," he said.

"I assuming it has something to do with the new student," said Izzy.

Saitoh nodded. "Yes, I just want to know what the boy is like,"

"He seems very smart, though has the attention span of a dead goldfish," said Joe.

All the other teachers nodded in agreement, except for Gorobei. "He probably just finds you guys boring. Without a doubt I can say that he would much rather fighting," he said.

Saitoh's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I heard about the little incident. Dislocating his own arm, Gorobei? What hell born thing possessed him to do that?"

The gym teacher shrugged. "Who knows, but I remember a certain principle doing something very similar in Jehol," Gorobei knowingly smiled.

Saitoh narrowed his eyes further. "The circumstances are quite different, Gorobei, you know that. I was a soldier trying to survive,"

"So is Gohan."

"Yes, about that," began Kaoru. "How does a fourteen year old become a mercenary?"

"I'm not sure," said the principle. "The Administration was only willing to release so much information. This is either because they don't have it, or could be damaging. All I can tell you is that several days ago, Gohan was one of the most highly paid mercenaries working for the Black Syndicate,"

Kaname and Kaoru gasped. The men's eyes widened as they took the information in. "The Back Syndicate? They would hire a teenager," said Joe.

Saitoh nodded. "I was wondering that myself, but found out nothing. Carrying on, the Syndicate sent thirty odd men to kill him. I think the end result is self-explanatory. Seizing the opportunity, the Administration employed him, and sent him here primarily to control him."

"Rather irresponsible, to hire a boy so young," said Izzy.

Gorobei shook his head. "Gohan probably has a lot of information on the workings of the Syndicate, which the Administration is hoping to exploit that information. Not too mention his skill. I have fought men who have trained all their lives, yet they would come no where near Gohan's level of skill and ability. His age is irrelevant," he said.

Saitoh nodded in agreement. "He may not be here by choice or for the purpose of his own education, but we are still to give him a proper education," and with a little smirk he add "Even if we have to shove it down his throat."

Gorobei smiled as the others just looked at him. "Sadistic as ever, eh Hajime,"

Saitoh swung his chair around so he was looking outside his window. "You can all go now, except you Gorobei,"

The others got up and made their way to the door. Gorobei, for his part looked unfazed, as though he was excepting this. When the door slammed shut, and a muttered 'sorry' from Joe, Gorobei began. "You know it's him, don't you?"

Saitoh nodded. "Yes, though I'm not sure how this happened," he said.

Gorobei just smiled, which caused Saitoh to glare at him. "Do tell what is so humorous, Gorobei," he said.

"It's funny don't you think," replied Gorobei. "That we should all end up at this establishment. He taught us a powerful lesson back then, now we are the ones who must teach him," at this Gorobei's smiled widened. "Irony at its best, don't you think."

Saitoh nodded, a small smile dancing across his usual cold and expressionless face. "What should we do with him," he finally asked.

"Nothing," said Gorobei. "He's carrying on with his life, as should we. The Conflict ended a year ago. It should be left across the sea."

&&&

(This next section of the chapter will basically explain the political structure of the world now. Also I've decide that the year will be 787 years after a certain event which will be explained later. This will also explain about the whole Japanese Coalition and Chinese Empire thing, if you didn't get that before)

Gohan yawned, as they walked to their history class. "You tired already Gohan," Videl teased.

"Not likely," said Gohan. "Just bored out of my skull."

Videl nodded in agreement. "You'll get use to it. History class is next."

The young mercenary sighed. "Isn't history really, really boring?"

"Sometimes," said Videl. "But it's usually pretty cool when Ms. Chidori is teaching,"

"I'll take your word for it then," said Gohan doubtfully as the made their way into the class room.

They were a few minutes late, but Kaname wasn't too concerned. "Alright everyone quite down. Today we're going to be studying the Catastrophic War."

Gohan sat up at this. "Cool," he whispered to himself.

Videl looked at him strangely. "What," he said to her. "The Catastrophic War is very interesting,"

"You think so Mr. Gohan," snapped Kaname's voice like a whip.

The demi-Saiyan jumped slightly and looked to the young teacher. "Um… well… yeah," he stuttered, being taken off guard.

"Good, then perhaps you'd like to tell us what you know on the topic," Kaname said, putting a hand on her hip impatiently.

"Uh ok. Well it's also referred to as the War of Apocalypse, Armageddon War and basically any other name that means 'end of the world'. Sometime during the middle of the twenty first century, diplomatic relations has reached an all time low. Now no one remember what actually triggered the war, but it is known that the primary offenders were the United States of America, and an alliance between Russia and China, what became known as the Red Union. At one point, every nation on the planet was involved. However, after a hundred and fifty years of this war, nations began to pull out and fall apart. Australia, New Zealand and Canada were the first to pull out. Eventually the only two left fighting were the USA and the RU. That's when the shi… uh brown stuff hit the fan. One of the sides launched a nuclear missile, and the other side retaliated the same way. Because of internal struggles and uprisings, neither side could continue, yet no treaty was signed, they only stopped fighting. It was then that they finally noticed how fuc… uh… messed up everything was. The war had been so taxing that no country, not even those who hardly participated could recover economically. This started the second Great Depression, which lasted eight years, before finally, the civilised world could no longer hold on, and the world entered what was dubbed as the Second Dark Age," explained Gohan.

Everyone just stared at him, except for Ms. Chidori, who just beamed. Turning to the class she said "Yes, in a nut shell that is what happened. We don't know a lot about the Catastrophic War, because a lot of knowledge was lost in the Second Dark Age. Please continue Gohan, I have never had a student so interested in history."

Gohan nodded to his teacher. "Historians and archaeologist estimate that the Second Dark Age carried on for about two thousand years before 'civilisation' began to emerge. The first country to 'reunify' was in fact Japan, which became known as the Japanese Coalition. Rather than being a nation, it is a collection of city states, such as Satan City and South City. Each city has their own governing system, yet they all come under the Imperial Japanese Council, in Kyoto, controlled by the emperor. In the council, every city has one ambassador which looks after the cities interests on the international scene. Before the war, there were roughly two hundred separate countries. Now there's only . Asia was divided into three. South East Asia, Korea and India became the Chinese Empire, which has been badgering the Coalition for ages. North Asia, along with most of north Eastern Europe came under control of the Russia Federation. Finally, South west Asia, the Middle East and north east Africa became the Central Arab Republic. In Europe, Britain became Britannia and lost control of Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic. France and Germany gained sovereignty of some of the smaller countries and Denmark, Norway and Sweden joined to become Scandinavia. Spain and Italy managed to keep their European borders though Italy lost Sicily. The Balkans an the Crimea were absorbed into Greece and Turkey controlled the eastern and southern coasts of the Black Sea as well as Asia Minor, though has continuous border disputed with the C.A.R. North West and Central Africa become the Carthage Republic and the southern African nations became South Africa."

"And what about America and the Pacific islands," asked Kaname, wanting to see the limit of his knowledge.

Gohan continued. "All of the American nations merged into one nation, known as the Continental Confederacy of America. Their governing structure is a lot like ours though their 'states' have a lot less control over their own affairs than our 'provinces'. Finally Oceania. Australia, New Zealand and all the other pacific islands allied themselves together to become Oceania. Because Australia was the first to pull out, it was affected least by the Second Dark Age. All the information we have today on the world before the war comes from either Australia or New Zealand. Also they are very choosy about who they let into their borders. Lots of security, the world's biggest navy after the CCA, and they don't let anyone in who doesn't have a government approved visa and a clean criminal record."

Kaname gave a little clap. No one had seen her, this excited since ever. "Well done Gohan. Now I hope you were all listening because Gohan just reciting your twelfth grade history course," at that everyone, sweat dropped.

"Don't worry though. You'll go into more detail if you choose to continue history, which you better," at this point she glared at everyone "For now we'll only be discussing theories about the Catastrophic War and the Second Dark Age," then she turned to Gohan "I think I'm going to enjoy having you in my class Gohan," and gave one of her rare smiles.

Gohan, for once was quiet, but the glint in his eye and his smirk told to everyone, that his ego was getting bigger.

&&&

At the end of class Gohan and Videl remained seated for their study period, which Kaname was watching over them. 'Sometimes it won't be me," said Kaname to Gohan. "It depends whichever teacher is on their break."

Gohan nodded in confirmation and started to do his math homework when a messenger came to the door. "Um excuse me," said the messenger, who was a timid young student. "Mr. Saitoh would like to see Gohan,"

Kaname nodded. "Gohan leave your things here and collect them when you're done with Mr. Saitoh."

The young mercenary got up and left with the messenger, who seemed scare shitless of the young man before him. When they left, Kaname smiled and moved over to Videl's desk. "So Videl," she began. "Tell me, what do you think of the new addition to our student body."

Videl smiled at Kaname. Because Videl was usually the only one in these study classes, she and Kaname had bonded over the course of the year. Though she could never replace her real mother, Kaname provided a listening ear and an endless well of advice. "Well, when I first fought Gohan, I found that he was perverted, arrogant, sleazy and an all round jerk. Mind you, I still think that now, but there's something about him. He treats me like everyone else, which is what I want. If I want his respect then I have to earn it. He's not the type of person who would roll over for me, just because of my dad. I find him to be a very interesting person. Unpredictable and strong," Videl said.

Kaname smiled more. "You know, when I was a little older than you, a former boy mercenary started school. When I first met him, I described him as being interesting. He wasn't a lot like Gohan. Gohan is wild, unpredictable, and uncaring of other people's opinions. My mercenary was exactly like a soldier, the exact opposite. Disciplined, militaristic and always put duty before everything else. Yet I believe that they had the same trouble childhoods that transformed into the boys and men that they will become," said Kaname, twisting her hair around her hair fondly.

Videl looked at Kaname like she was crazy. "And what happened to that mercenary,"

Kaname snapped out of it a little. "Oh I married him when I was twenty one,"

Videl's eyes widened and her checks grew red. "Wah… what?! Married?" exclaimed Videl.

Kaname only giggled.

&&&

When Gohan walked out of the principles office, he wasn't happy. First of all, Saitoh wanted to meet and greet the new mercenary. After exchanging a few pleasantries, that's when things went downhill. Saitoh immediately began telling him what was excepted of him, how he should act and… that's when Gohan nodded off.

As Gohan came into the hall way, he didn't except to see Videl Satan waiting there patiently, with their things. He just looked curiously at her. "Not that I mind Videl, but what are you doing," he said rubbing the back of his head.

Videl just looked up at him. "I thought you might like a lift to your house," she said.

While that's what she said, Gohan could see through her façade. "You just don't wanna be alone do you," he said, smirking slightly.

Videl looked away, almost as if she was ashamed of her self. "I'm tired of being alone ok, and I was hoping, seeing as you're the one person here you doesn't worship me or my father, might provide me with some company. Is it so wrong to want to be alone," she snapped, though Gohan could see the tears welling up in the eyes.

This time, Gohan genuinely smiled as he wiped a stray tear away. "There's nothing wrong, with not wanting to be alone," he said.

Videl returned his smiled, and handed him his bag, as they made their way out of school.

A/N Sorry bout this chap being so late, it's just hard to get motivated to write, but when I do watch out. This chap is bout 12 pages long and I did 9 of those pages in one day, after the first 3 had been done bout 2 weeks before. Also sorry if this chapter was a little boring, I just thought it might be helpful to understand politically whats going on, cause I plan to be making references to it. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them and plz review, the more reviews I get the less time I'll spend playing WoW and more time writing.


	7. Sleepy Sleep

_Servitude is not fun._

_Long ago, an artist named Bob Dylan produced a song called 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'. Basically it says that no matter what we do, we will always be in service to someone, whether it's that government, an employer, or some kind of deity. As much I can deny it, I serve the damned Administration with their silly contract. I can always say that I choose to honour the contracts, making it seem like I'm letting them control me. But as much as I can deny it, I'm serving them._

&&&

Gohan sat on the edge of a lake, just staring into nothingness, just zoning out. Strangely he felt at peace at this lake, with a sleeping Videl resting her head in his lap. _'Hold it right there'_ Gohan thought. Now he knew something was up. _'Videl may have a softer side which rarely comes out, but there is no way she would rest her head in my lap'_. Not that he minded, he felt very comfortable, very content. Something he noticed though was that he and Videl were a fair bit older. Her hair was longer and done up in a braid rather than her usual pony tail, and he was quite a bit taller. He noticed that he was stilling wearing his black coat, and Videl was wearing a loose light blue sundress that looked very good on her.

All of a sudden dark clouds covered the sky, and thunder boomed loud as a thousand drums. Videl woke with a start and looked around in a panic. She leaned closer into Gohan, for protection, in which Gohan firmly wrapped his arms around her. _'Ok now I know I'm dreaming. I would never do that… unless I was getting paid. And if Videl knew I was dreaming this, well… I think I like my balls right where they are'_ Gohan 'said' to himself. He took particular notice of the clouds, as they began too move and transformed into a shape.

As Gohan looked more carefully, he saw that the clouds were taking the shape of Goku, his 'bastard male forebear' (that part would probably be easier to understand if you've read the short story, "The Blooding" by Peter Goldsworthy, basically it means the mean to provide the seed to fertilize the egg). _"Goooohan,"_ hissed the clouds, like a gentle breeze, but this breeze made Gohan seethe.

"_Get away from us you bastard,"_ Gohan compulsively yelled, while mentally he was saying _'Why in Dende's green earth would I say that without starting with a "Go to hell mother fucker" first'._

Next thing Gohan knew Videl was torn from him by the cloud-Goku and blasted Gohan away. _"VIDEEEEEEEEEEL," _screamed Gohan as he stopped himself in mid air and transformed straight to Super Saiyan 2.

_Gohan?_

"DIE YOU BASTARD," he screamed, charging forward into… the desk?

'_Oh fuck'_

Gohan opened his eyes to see everyone looking at him. Videl was looking at him strangely, as was everyone else, and Joe (the science teacher) was not at all pleased by having his class disrupted. The demi-Saiyan looked around nervously. Finally after a few seconds, he gave a small cough and said "The most obvious difference between sea mammals and fish is that fish swim by moving their tail side to side, whereas sea mammals swim by moving their tail up and down,"

"Well done Mr. Gohan," growled Joe. "However we are learning physics, not biography,"

Some of the class giggled at that while Gohan just looked up to Joe. "Would it help if I said that was going to be my second guess," he said, earning more giggles from the class, and a pretty smile from Videl which he returned with a smirk.

Joe just shook his head and continued on with the lesson, as Gohan was still new, being only his second day and all, so he could allow some liberties.

&&&

"So what was up with you in science," Videl said during their study period. "I thought I heard you mumbled my name, then you yelled out 'die you bastard',"

"Reoccurring nightmare of sorts," Gohan said as he put his feet on the table and started to snooze a little.

"You know Gohan, this time should be spent wisely," said Kaname, who once again was supervising their study period.

"I have faith in my academic abilities, Ms Chidori," Gohan yawned.

Kaname shook her head and continued doing her work. The silence that fall upon them was soon interrupted by Kaname's mobile phone going off. The noise was so sudden that it caught Gohan by surprise and made him fall off his chair. This left a very annoyed mercenary rubbing his head. "Aren't phones BANNED from school, Ms. Chidori? I don't think you're setting a good example for the rest of us," Gohan growled.

Kaname ignored him and answered her phone. "Hello, Kaname Chidori speaking… HONEY," she squealed when she found out who it was, causing a young demi-Saiyan to wince.

"No I'm still at school… I'm watching over Videl and the new boy, Gohan in their study period… What on earth for… Oh well, I'll let them know… Ok honey, see you tonight, don't forget to get some milk on your way home… I love you too,"

Gohan just raised an eyebrow at his teacher, as she continued to ignore him. "After school, you too have to go to the Central Law Enforcement Headquarters too meet my husband, Chief Inspector Sousuke Sagara," said Kaname, still bearing this far away look in her eye.

Gohan and Videl just looked at their teacher strangely. "Ms. Chidori, are you ok… or at least mentally stable?" asked the mercenary, raising an eyebrow.

Kaname suddenly glared at Gohan, removing any thought of a smartass remark. "My husband wants to see you two after school, you know where the CLEH is don't you," Kaname asked.

Gohan nodded, smirking slightly. "Hehe, you bet I do,"

Kaname and Videl just looked at Gohan but dismissed it. "When the bell goes, head straight there ok," Kaname told her students, earning confirming nods from them.

"Now that that's settled," said Gohan yawning a little. "Can I go back to sleep," and with that he put his feet back on the desk and began to snooze again.

Kaname just shook her head and Videl giggled a bit.

&&&

After school Gohan and Videl jumped into her copter and flew to the CLEH. As soon as they took off the young demi-Saiyan put his hands behind his head, leaned back and closed his eyes. Videl just shook her head. "Wanna tell me why you're so tired today," she said.

Gohan just yawned. "Not really," he replied.

Videl just glared at him. "So why are you tired," said the young girl.

The mercenary opened one eye to look at her. Seeing that she wasn't going to let it go he answered "Internal cloak is adjusting," and closed his eye again.

The girl beside him just sweat dropped. "That is the stupidest excuse ever," she growled at him.

Gohan shrugged, not opening his eyes. "Did you know that last night was the first time in three years where I went to bed before twelve o'clock and this morning was the first time in as many years that I woke up before eleven?"

"What on earth do you do till twelve at night," said Videl.

"Party sometimes, but to be honest parties aren't that great, unless you're drunk, and I have a really high alcohol tolerance so I don't bother. Usually I just read," answered the dozing demi-Saiyan.

Videl shook her head. "Don't get too comfortable Gohan. I can see the CLEH," she said to him.

"Dammit," Gohan grumbled. "I'm never gonna get some sleep,"

Videl looked at him shocked. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'NEVER GONNA GET SOME SLEEP'? YOU PRACTICALLY SLEPT THE ENTIRE DAY,"

"Oh shut up," he yawned in reply.

&&&

As Gohan and Videl got out of her jet copter the young mercenary looked up at the building, and in particular the jail block. He smirked when he saw it. "It's been a while since I've been here," he said.

Videl glared at him curiously. "When were you here last and do I wanna know why?" she asked.

The young half breed just grinned. "I actually got arrested once. Some bastard cop got me with a tranquiliser. My body is immune to poisons and diseases but the tranquiliser did affect me, and because of my wicked fast metabolism, sedatives hit me hard and fast. Anyway so they brought me here from confinement, but they didn't except me to break out as soon as I woke up," he said.

Videl nodded. "I remember that. It was when you guys attacked Fort Kairi Shin Prison, trying to break out one of your men. What was his name, Raijuta or something?"

"Something like that. I think he used to a samurai in the Samurai Legion, and was one of the survivors. Unlike the others he couldn't go back to a life of peace and started working as a mercenary. When he got arrested he tried doing a deal with the Administration to get a lighter sentence. Naturally the bosses didn't like that, so I was sent to bring him to my boss."

"What happened to him?"

"What do you _think_, Vi?"

Videl shook her head. "You can't show compassion, can you?"

The demi Saiyan shook his head in return. "Nope, my people don't _do_ compassion,"

Videl just looked at him. "_Your _people? What the hell does that mean?" she asked.

Gohan just tapped the side of his nose. "That's my secret Vi, and I don't feel like sharing," he said, smirking.

"Damn you, you secretive bastard," she mumbled.

As Gohan got several steps a head of her, he said "No one will hear you if you always mumble Vi," causing her to blush a little.

&&&

Gohan and Videl sat in front of Sousuke's desk, waiting for him. When the door opened, a young man with dark brown hair, light grey eyes and a cross shaped scar with an emotionless expression on his face. "Mr. Gohan, Miss Satan, a pleasure," he said, very formally.

Gohan just looked at him. "How on earth did a temperamental woman like Ms. Chidori end up with an expressionless one like you," he exclaimed.

The young woman next to him shot him a look. "Don't be so rude," she snapped.

Sousuke just shook his head. "Forgive me Mr. Gohan, but I do not need to provide you with the details of my personal life, as our relationship is strictly professional," he said to the teenaged Saiyan.

Said Saiyan just blinked, as did his companion beside him. "Uh… ok," he muttered.

"Now if both of you will calm down, we can get down to business," Sousuke said.

The teenagers nodded and waited for the Chief Inspector to continue. "Now first item of business," Sousuke turned to Gohan. "Mr. Gohan, I understand that you have quite a lot of information of the inner workings of the Black Syndicate, correct?"

Gohan nodded. "I do, but I ain't very willing to share," he told the man in front of him.

"May I ask why?"

"Sure. You see the way I see it, I'm doing you guys a favour,"

"Oh, how so?"

"Now that I'm out of their fold, with so much dirt on them, organised crime all round the Pacific Ocean will be hesitant, just in case they set me off. You really think that they'd send thirty armed thugs just to kill a child soldier who knew nothing,"

Sousuke nodded. "That makes sense. So basically, until you're dead, all organised crime is on standby,"

"In a nut shell, yes," answered Gohan. "Though I suppose you guys are gonna get grumpy if I don't give you anything aren't you?"

"The primary reason the Administration hired you was in hope that you could provide some information about the Black Syndicate," said Sousuke.

The demi Saiyan nodded. "Alright then, I guess I can spare some stuff,"

"Excellent. Have a report on my desk by ten o'clock tomorrow morning,"

Gohan groaned. He was planning on sleeping in tomorrow morning. "Fine, whatever," he grumbled.

"Now I thought I should tell you about what is expected of you, now that you're working for the Administration," said Sousuke.

Gohan cringed. "I already had one of these 'what is expected of you' talks with Mr. Saitoh, and that wasn't fun," he said.

Sousuke just looked at Gohan, expressionless as ever. "This will be different I assure you," he said. "We put you in all of Miss. Satan's classes and located your house in the same area because you two will be working closely together."

At this Gohan perverted mind went to work, a devious smirk showing exactly what he was thinking, while Videl just muttered "Pervert,"

Sousuke just shook his head. "Whenever Miss. Satan receives a call from the police, you are to accompany her. You two are the last line of defence in the fight against crime,"

Gohan just sweat dropped. _'Am I wearing tights or something'_ he thought to himself, while at the same time he was imagining Videl in tights. Another perverted smirked pooped up on his face, earning another 'pervert' from Videl.

"Even though you will mostly be working with the police force, Mr. Gohan, the Administration recognizes you incredible fighting talent, having bested Miss. Satan here several times, and believed to be stronger than Hercule himself. Because of this, you will occasionally be working with the Satan Militia under General Heero Yuy," said Sousuke

Gohan cringed a second time that day. He remembered General Yuy from his time in China. The general was cold, calculated, a brilliant soldier and an incredible strategists. His only flaw was that he was more than willing to sacrifice himself and his own men if it would turn the tide of the battle. He was not going to be having fun if he was under command of General Yuy, and if he was recognized he was fucked.

"Is it necessary," groaned Gohan.

Sousuke glared at the boy in front of him. "Yes Mr. Gohan it is. Many of the provinces are wishing for independence from the Coalition and conflict is striking up in the north, between the provinces of Kuro and Shiro. You may be sent there to help ease the conflict."

Gohan rolled his eyes. "Great, next time I am SO reading my contracts,"

Sousuke smiled at hearing this. "Before you leave today I have one other thing to discuss with. Earlier this week you were involved in a Syndicate raid on the Central Bank. This would not have been a significant had it not been for the fact that there were twenty over men with you. In your report tomorrow, explain to me why there were so many men and what went wrong," Sousuke said.

Gohan nodded as he and Videl got up to leave. "Don't worry, Mr. Sagara, you'll have your report, ten o'clock tomorrow. You want regular white paper, or pretty pink scented paper," he said as he walked out the door.

When he heard the door close Sousuke just shook his head. "What a strange child," he said.

&&&

Once again, Gohan was sitting by a lake, with Videl resting her head in his lap. This time she was wearing beige mini skirt and a white button up shirt. As she intertwined her hand with Gohan's, he noticed identical gold bands on their ring fingers. _'Videl? Me? MARRIED'_ were the thoughts that went through Gohan's dream state mind. The dream Videl kissed Gohan on his jaw line, making him feel easy and sent a tingle through his spine and his tail, which he had noticed had grown back.

This time, Gohan also noticed that there were several other people around them. Sitting near the forest, at the base of a tree, a tall young man with dark hair and familiar yet warmer (than he remembered) blue eyes was just staring out into the sunset. A little closer to the lake, two teenagers, perhaps a little young that himself and Videl, sat with each other, eating noodles. The girl had long black hair and the most beautiful brown eyes, full of love and kindness for the boy she was sitting with. The boy, Gohan noted was more unusual than himself, with silver hair longer than the girls, golden eyes, and strangest of all, dog like ears on the top of his head. _'And I thought having a monkey tail was strange'_ Gohan thought.

Very close to where he and Videl were, he saw two young, about the age of three or four, children, both with tails as well. _'Saiyan children? Does that mean that me and Vi...'_ thought Gohan as he watched the two children run around and chase each other. The little girl was almost the spitting image of Videl, though her hair was much shorter. Once again it was the boy who got Gohan's attention. He would have been five at the most, and yet he had the golden hair and the turquoise eyes of a super Saiyan. As Gohan stared at the young Super Saiyan, the clouds began to shift again.

Like before Videl sat up and leaned into Gohan as he embraced her. As the clouds began to transform into Goku, she whispered to him _"I know you'll protect me,"_ Dream Gohan smiled at her, then turned a powerful glare towards his cloud like father. _"Leave us alone, you bastard," _dream Gohan yelled.

"_You don't deserve any of this,"_ hissed the cloud Goku.

With that Gohan woke up. For several minutes he just laid there on his bed, going through his thoughts of that dream. Those people, Videl, what were they too him. And that man with long black hair, why did his eyes feel so warm, when something in his mind said that they should be like ice. And what had his father said, that he did deserve any of that happiness he felt.

Gohan snorted at this. "Like you do old man."

A/N. Alright how was that. Remember more reviews motivates me, so tell all your friends' bout this story. And see if you can guess the anime characters I mentions in Gohan's dream. The girl with black hair, the boy with silver hair and dog ears (that one should be easy), the man with blue eyes and long black hair, the little girl Saiyan and the little boy Super Saiyan. Don't worry none of them are original. And I won't tell you which one is which until they appear. I plan of having the first 3 in the story soon, but the last 2 won't come until a bit later. Once again remember to tell me what you like and dislike, until then cya.


	8. Brown Eyed Girl: Product of Lust

**WARNING: This chapter of 'The Mercenary' contains descriptions rape and sexual assault. Proceed at your own discretion. **

_Lust._

_More often than not, when a guy proclaims his everlasting love to you, you can safely assume his just wants a romp in the sack. I see it in their eyes all the time, the lust, the desire for me. I know that sounds a little conceited, but it's true. I've never really thought of myself as being anything more than average looking, but the fact that my father is one of the richest men in the world would make me seem more beautiful than Helen of Troy, even if I resembled a giant slug with warts._

_But where do you draw the line between love and lust? How do you define either? How can you tell the difference between the two? All they are forms of longing._

&&&

Winry Elric arrived at Gohan's place a little after nine o'clock in the morning. She had with her a little welcoming basket, full of homemade cakes and muffin. She pulled into his driveway and took the house in. Despite being in the upmarket district of Herron, the house was rather small, compared to the other houses that is. It had a red brick fence with dark green metal bars, and two stories of red brick walls and a grey tin roof. The front door was a double French door with a very nice pattern in the window. What Winry took notice of most, of the little wind chimes, which chimed at the slightest breeze. All in all it was a nice house. (Sorry if that description was a little retarded)

Placing the basket on the ground, Winry knocked three times on the door. Several seconds latter the door was answered by Gohan. He was dressed a black muscle shirt with three jagged grey diagonal stripes and black jeans with black skate shoes. When he recognised who it was he said "What can I do for you Mrs. Elric," a little coldly.

Winry however just smiled, secretly trying to reign in her temper _'How DARE he be so rude,' _she thought angrily. "I brought you some food," she said holding up the basket of baked goods.

Gohan looked at the food and sighed. "You want some coffee?" he asked.

Winry smiled in triumph. "Sure," she replied.

He led her into the kitchen. Winry placed the basket on the table and took a seat. She heard Gohan's stereo playing with a song she hadn't heard before.

_I've been to London, seen seven wonders. I know to trip is just to fall  
I used to rock it, sometimes I'd roll it. I always knew what it was for._

There can be no denyin' that the wind 'll shake 'em down  
And the flat world's flyin'. There's a new plague on the land

If we could just join hands 

_If we could just join hands_

_If we could just join hands_

Traversed the planet when heaven sent me. I saw the kings who rule them all  
Still by the firelight and purple moonlight. I hear the rested rivers call  
And the wind is crying, from a love that won't grow cold  
My lover, she is lying, on the dark side of the globe

If we could just join hands 

_If we could just join hands_

_If we could just join hands_

You got me rockin' when I ought to be a-rollin'   
Darlin', tell me, darlin', which way to go  
You keep me rockin', baby, then you keep me stolen  
Won't you tell me, darlin', which way to go... that's right

Oh how I wonder, oh how I worry and I would dearly like to know  
I've all this wonder of earthly plunder will it leave us anything to show

And our time is flyin' see the candle burnin' low  
Is the new world rising, from the shambles of the old

If we could just join hands.

She turned to Gohan who was fixing up two cups of coffee. "I've never heard this song before, what is it," she asked.

The mercenary handed her a cup of coffee. "It's called 'The Rover' by Led Zeppelin," he answered her.

Winry looked at Gohan strangely. "Who's Led Zeppelin," she asked.

"An English rock band from before the Catastrophic War," said Gohan, taking a sip from his coffee and grabbing one of the cakes.

"It's a cool song, and it suits you," she said.

Gohan nodded taking a bite of the cake. "Hey," he said after swallowing. "This is good, you bake it yourself?"

Winry beamed with pride and nodded. "Hell, if you cook this good all the time, you can bring me a welcome basket any time," said Gohan, earning him more browny points.

"So what brings you to my place anyway? It can't have been just to drop of a welcome basket,"

Winry shook her head. "I heard you had a report to give Chief Inspector Sagara today, so I thought I'd come give you a lift," she said.

Gohan sighed. He didn't exactly need a lift, though didn't want to attract too much attention to himself from his new employers. "Thanks," he said simply. "I'll go grab the report, and then we'll go,"

Winry nodded as he walked out of the room. A few seconds latter there was a knock on the door. "Could you get that Mrs. Elric," came Gohan's voice from somewhere in the house.

Winry got up and made her way down the hall to the front door. When she opened it, she was meet with the teenaged form of Videl Satan. "Uh," she said. "Is Gohan here?"

Winry nodded. "He's just gone to get his report," the blonde woman said. "You're Videl Satan, aren't you?"

Videl blushed slightly and nodded. "I'm Winry Elric, the wife of Gohan's boss," said Winry, holding out her hand.

The teenaged girl took the older woman's hand. "A pleasure to meet you Mrs. Elric," said Videl.

"My, you are polite aren't you," Winry said, causing Videl to blush some more. "Hopefully you can rub off on Gohan, eh?"

Videl giggled a bit and nodded, but soon found herself imagining what Gohan would have defined as 'rubbing off'. Her renewed blush projected what she was thinking to Mrs. Elric, who smirked at the young girl. When Gohan came to the front door, he saw the two women talking, about god knows what. Coughing a little he got there attention. "Hey there Vi," he greeted.

"Hey Gohan," she trailed off as she took notice of Gohan's arms and chest, which were revealed through the fairly tight muscle shirt. _'Oh my GOD. What is he? A Greek god or something?'_ she thought to herself.

Both Winry and Gohan took noticed at Videl's staring, both of them smirking. When the teenagers realized they were smirking at her she blushed, and mumbled an apology. "So what brings you around Vi," said Gohan.

"Just wanted to say hi," she said still blushing. "And to see if you needed a lift to the CLEH,"

"Thanks for the offer Vi," began Gohan. "But Mrs. Elric here…"

"Actually Gohan," interrupted Winry. "I only came here because I thought you had no other means of getting to the CLEH, but I have a doctor's appointment. If you can get there some other way that would make things much easier on me."

Gohan looked at Videl. "Well Vi, if you don't mind, I will be taking that lift, if you can put up with my company for a few minutes," he said.

"No problem," was her reply.

After saying their farewells Winry hopped back into her car, and the two teenagers jumped into Videl's jet copter. As she saw them take off she smiled. _'Those two look so cute together'_ she thought to herself.

&&&

Around eight o'clock that night, Gohan found himself wondering around the Vanguard district. It was the lower class area, where the unemployed and low paid workers lived. Also this was where Gohan lived while he was working for the Syndicate. He didn't live here because he couldn't afford better, quite the contrary, he was one of the most highly paid mercenaries working for the Syndicate, and that was saying something. No he took up residence in this district simply because this was where the Syndicate was strongest. Many of their grunt workers and thugs lived here and many people had felt hard done by the government, mostly because they didn't have jobs.

The young mercenary couldn't help but wonder the reaction he would receive when spotted by a Syndicate employee. _'Oh well´ _he thought. _'Could use the exercise'_. Gohan was bored out of his mind. Videl had gone over to Erasa's for a sleep over so hanging out with her wasn't an option. After spending the last two days getting to know her, Gohan found that he rather enjoyed her company. She wasn't exactly what he had expected, being the daughter of Hercule and all. Actually, he could sense that she rather disliked her father.

"HEELP ME," cried a voice from a nearby alleyway.

Gohan frowned. When he used to live here he heard those types of screams all the time. Woman getting robbed, raped and murdered was just normal occurrence in the Vanguard district. Yet something about that voice had bothered Gohan. It was feminine, that was definite, but it was awfully young, probably years younger than what was legal, and also, and this is what really got Gohan, he could have sworn he had heard that voice before.

Gohan sighed as he made his way to where he heard the scream. Usually he tried to mind his own business when it concerned to people below, but he decided that today he could at least save someone. However when he walked into the alleyway, he froze and his eyes widened.

There in front of him were three men, all with the same kind of black hair and greens eyes that Saitama Edo and his siblings had. And there corned up into a ball in the corner was a little girl, no older than nine. Her cloths torn and tatter and she had lots of bruises, welts and cuts over her body. It was Gohan noticed her brown eyes did he recognize her. _'My dear Kami on a stick. That's the young girl from my dream' _he thought, though he realized she was a little younger than in his dream. _'Duh you idiot, you and Videl were older as well´_ came Gohan's mental reply. Deciding to take action, he spoke up. 'Hey, leave the little girl alone," he called to the men.

The three men turned to Gohan. "Check this guy out brothers," said the biggest one, he assumed the eldest.

"Probably doesn't know that we're the Edo brothers," said the second. _'No wonder they look like Saitama then'_ thought Gohan.

The third just glared at Gohan. "Whatcha gonna do if we choose to keep our little pet instead," he sneered.

The young mercenary in front of them just smirked, an evil glint in his eye making the three brothers back away. "I'm gonna tear you to pieces," snarled Gohan darkly.

&&&

Sousuke Sagara surveyed the men surround the large circular table in the dark room that they were in. Most notable were Roy Mustang, Ed Elric and Heero Yuy. Too him everyone else was just a nameless politician. Everyone was gathered here because the mayor had asked Sousuke to conduct a presentation of the findings in Gohan's report. "You may begin when ready Chief Inspector," said Ed.

Sousuke nodded. "Gentlemen," he began. "As you know, the mercenary, Gohan, who we hired several days ago has worked for the Black Syndicate for the past three years. One year in South City, in China for the duration of the Jehol Conflict and has been in Satan City since the conflicts end. After they tried to assassinate him, we put forward an offer which he accepted. Yesterday I requested he write a report on the inner workings of the Black Syndicate and information about their operation earlier this week involving a twenty man assault on the Satan Central Bank. The report was handed in to me today at ten o'clock,"

Roy Mustang nodded. "And you managed to make up a full presentation in only six hours. You should be commended Chief Inspector," said the mayor.

"Thank you, Mr. Mustang," replied Sousuke giving a small bow. He then turned off the lights and turned on a projector which showed a picture of the Pacific Ocean. Parts of the surrounding land were highlighted in red, while the rest was yellow. "In Gohan's report," started Sousuke. "He indicates that the Black Syndicate, operating mostly in Japan and China, is only part of a much large crime network."

Collective gasps were heard around the room. "You mean to say that the Black Syndicate is nothing more than a puppet," gasped Ed.

Sousuke nodded. "Yes. The report shows that the majority of organized crime on the east Asian and west American coasts, the northern Oceanic islands and Japan are all controlled by the same crime family, referred to as the 'Paladin Family', lead by the father Adrian Paladin, who according to this report is over one hundred years old,"

A snort came from the desk. "That statement there should be able to show it's own credibility," shot another politician, a large man named Basque Grann, Minister of Provincial Relations.

Sousuke just looked at the man. "Actually Gohan has managed to provide birth certificates and photographic evidence to back this claim up. So no matter how ludicrous it seems, the claim still has some credibility," he said.

"And," said Roy. "If you interrupt Mr. Sagara again, Mr. Grann, I shall have you escorted out of this room,"

Grann just glared at the mayor, but kept his mouth shut. "Thank you Mr. Mustang," said Sousuke. "As I was saying, the Paladin family controls all organized crime within the red area, but also has connections to terrorist organizations and rebel factions all over the world. They do every illegal act possible from drug smuggling to arms dealing and make vast amounts of money. In fact," Sousuke took a deep breath. "According to this report, this Paladin family has enough resources and man power to start another Catastrophic War."

Again everyone around him gasped, including the mayor and Heero Yuy. "My God," whispered the usually cold general.

"Do they have any weaknesses," asked Ed.

Sousuke shifted through the papers. "The Paladin family is a crime family, and as such they would pass the mantle from father to son. If we can locate these family members than maybe we could disrupt their chain of command."

"But if this Adrian Paladin really is immortal," questioned Heero.

Sousuke nodded. "I believe it would be best to wait until we have more information on the Paladin family, before we act," he stated.

Ed and Roy nodded their agreements. "Next item from Gohan's report," said Sousuke, pulling out a small stack of papers. "I have here a list of government employee's in all areas, all over Japan, who have been taking bribes from the Black Syndicate."

Sousuke surveyed the room, his words having the desired effect. He could see several men begin to sweet, including Minister Grann. Sousuke smiled to himself. "I will give this list to you after the meeting Mr. Mustang," he said.

Roy nodded. "Of course," he replied.

"Lastly," said Sousuke. "I must ask everyone apart from Mayor Mustang, Minister Elric, General Yuy and myself to leave this room. The next item of business is extremely confidential and really has nothing to do with anyone else."

The other men nervously got up and left, with Grann giving Sousuke one last glared before exiting. Heero gave Sousuke a strange look. "Was that necessary Inspector," he said. "I'm sure that whatever you have to tell us isn't that confidential."

Sousuke nodded. "You're right General, however, all of those men who left the room are on Gohan's list," said the Inspector.

The eyes of the three remaining men widened. "All of them," said Ed. "I mean, I've always suspected Grann, ever since Bradley got the boot, but the others as well?"

Sousuke nodded again. "The last item from this report is Gohan's report of the Central Bank assault earlier this week. It says that their mission was authorized by the Paladin Family themselves. The thugs were meant to retrieve something called a dragon ball," the policeman looked up from his paper. "Does that mean anything to anyone?"

Roy and Ed shook their heads, but Heero just stared. "I have heard a story or two about them," he said.

"Would you like to share with us General," asked Roy.

Heero nodded. "The legend of the dragon balls is a story about these seven mystical balls, each numbered by the amount of star it has. When all seven are gathered, they summon a dragon known as Shenlong the Eternal Dragon. When summoned this dragon will grant the user any two wishes."

Ed perked up at hearing this. "Something you want to add, Ed," said Roy.

The young minister nodded. "Alright, lets say, for the sake of argument, that these 'dragon balls' do exist right? Wouldn't that explained why Adrian Paladin has lived for so long," said Ed.

Sousuke nodded in agreement. "From some family records Gohan provided, Adrian's eldest child is 54, less than half his age. Why would a crime boss like Adrian wait so long to have an heir?"

"Because he wasn't going to die anytime soon," said Ed, and then adding. "Probably uses them as employees rather than heirs."

The other men nodded in agreement as Sousuke continued with his presentation. "The report says that when they got to the vault where the valuable items are kept, the dragon ball wasn't there. Then one of the demo experts accidentally set off one of the explosive devices, killing everyone there save Gohan."

"How did he survive," asked Heero.

Sousuke flipped the page. "His jacket saved his. He doesn't let anyone else touch it, but according tot his report, comparing his jacket to Kevlar is like comparing tank armour to al foil," he said.

Roy raised an eyebrow and smirked. "That strong huh," said the mayor. "Certainly glad he's on our side,"

Heero nodded, but looked at the mayor curiously. "Yes, but don't you want to know where that jacket came from," asked the young general.

"Of course," said Roy. "But something tells me that Gohan has absolutely no intention of telling us where he got that jacket from. Not to mention his contract only specifies information us about any criminal activities and habits, so he'll use that to his advantaged."

"Something doesn't seem right though," said Ed, rubbing his chin. "The Black Syndicate is usually well informed, and I'm assuming this Paladin family is even more so. So if this 'dragon ball' had been moved before hand, then wouldn't they know about?"

The other men remained quiet, contemplating what Ed had said. Finally Sousuke spoke. "The most likely explanation, after the one in Gohan's report, is that he stole the dragon ball and sabotaged the explosives, leaving no witness's," he volunteered.

"If that is the case, then I'm afraid we will just have to give Gohan the benefit of the doubt," said Roy, then adding. "Until there is evidence to the otherwise."

His three subordinates nodded their agreement as Riza Hawkeye walked in through the door. "Excuse, Mr. Sagara you have a call from Mr. Gohan," she said, giving the mayor a sly wink before she left.

Turning to the other three men, Sousuke said. "I better see what he wants,"

&&&

"So what's he like Videl," asked Erasa.

Videl swallowed a mouthful of her coke and put her can down next to her. The girls had pulled out a spare mattress underneath Erasa's bed and made it up for Videl, which they both now sat on. Both of them were in their pajamas and were just sitting up and talking at ten o'clock that night. Videl could see this question a mile away, so she had a fair bit of time to prepare. "Honestly Erasa," said Videl. "The boy is a complete mystery."

"Oh," said Erasa. "How so?"

The dark haired girl sighed. "He has a sense of honour, anyone who talked to him long enough can see that, but it's twisted to suit himself, making him deceptive. Everything I learn about him contradicts everything I already know. I just can't figure him out."

Erasa just smiled at her friend. "Maybe that's a good thing huh," she said to her oldest friend.

Videl just looked at the perky blonde. "What are you talking about?"

"Well think about it, if you knew everything about him, then he'd be predictable wouldn't he? I reckon that's what makes him so interesting, that no one knows what he's gonna do next. Of course no one really knows much about him, save you Videl, but he doesn't seem the type to reveal himself completely to anyone, does he?"

Videl answered her friend, as the pair of them heard Erasa's mum answer the phone. "No you're right, he doesn't seem the type to share his secrets," then she sighed. "It's just that I want to be his friend, but how can I trust him with my secrets, if I don't know what he's going to do with them?"

Erasa nodded in understanding. Videl had secrets that only a girl would share with a special someone, and the young girl wanted Gohan to be that someone. "Videl I cant give you all the answers…"

The blonde's response was cut off with her mother, Julia who was the spitting image of her daughter, came barging into the room. "I'm sorry girls but I've been called into the hospital, there's an emergency. And you guys have to come with me," said the older blonde.

"What? Why?" asked Videl.

"Your dad told me not to leave you by yourself," Julia replied.

Videl sighed. Typical of her father, always preventing her from being herself. While some people would dismiss it as the world's saviour as being protective of his daughter, Videl could see it for what it really was. If she was always under adult supervision, whether it be teacher, policemen or friends parents, she would most likely behaved. Not that Videl misbehaved ever, but Hercule wasn't willing to take that chance. He said that when you're famous, everything you and your family do affects that fame. No sooner than those words left his mouth, Videl knew that he was more worried about his fame, than his own daughter.

As Julia got dressed in her nurse's uniform, the young girls each jackets and shoes and they all made their way to the family car.

&&&

The three women rushed inside Satan City Hospital. Julia told Videl and Erasa to wait outside in the waiting room while she went to do her job. As they went to sit down, Videl noticed two other people in the waiting both, both of them she knew on some level. "Gohan," she called to one of the boys.

The boy mercenary turned to her and the scowl his was wearing lessened a little. "Vi, Erasa, what are you guys doing here," Gohan asked.

The man next to him turned his head and eyed the two girls. He then smirked. "My how do such lovely angels come to know an animal such as the one sitting next to me?" he said as the two walked over to where they sat.

Videl who was used to such compliments from strange men just rolled her eyes, while Erasa giggled and blushed. Gohan only glared at the other man. "I'm not the only animal here, am I, Kobe, and I don't remember saying you could speak," shot the demi-Saiyan.

The man, who was called Kobe, just made a hmph noise and stuck his nose up in the air. Videl just looked at them. "Kobe? As in Kobe Edo?" piped Erasa.

Kobe got up and grabbed Erasa's hand and kissed it lightly, causing Erasa to blush and giggle again. "Beautiful and well informed. I think I'm in love," Kobe said smoothly, adding to Erasa's giggles.

Gohan looked at the pair in disgust, got up and lightly (for a Saiyan) swatted Kobe on the back of the head. "You do not touch her filth, or else I won't hand you over to Sagara when he gets here," spat the mercenary, returning to his seat.

Videl decided to take the seat next to Gohan, and asked "What's going on Gohan, why are you holding a member of the Edo family prisoner in a hospital?"

Gohan shot another glare at Kobe. "I was wondering around the Vanguard district when I found this low life and his older brothers having a little too much fun,"

Videl and Erasa, who sat next to her best friend, just looked at the Saiyan. "What do you mean?" they both said.

The mercenary next to them simply said "They raped a little girl, no older than ten. This bastard tried to kill her while I finished off his brothers. I brought her here as fast as I could."

Both of the girls gasped, and Videl whispered "Oh my god," while Erasa subconsciously wiped the hand Kobe had kissed. The Edo son only scowled. "What about by brothers huh? You massacred them like an animal kills his prey," spat Kobe.

Gohan only smirked. "I _am_ an animal; I hold no illusions to the contrary. I killed anything and everything that gets in my way. But I do not rape. As far as I'm concerned rape is the only unjustifiable crime and I have no mercy to rapist. You saw first hand what I did to your brothers."

Videl looked at Gohan skeptically. "What did you do to his brothers," she asked.

Still smirking Gohan answered "Not much but you can find them all over Vanguard,"

"You bastard," Kobe spat. "He said he was going to tear us apart. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he meant it _literary_."

The young mercenary merely shrugged as Erasa gasped again and Videl only looked at him. "Don't looked so surprised, Vi, you know what I'm capable of," he said to her.

Videl nodded. Erasa, after getting over the sock of realizing Gohan _actually _did kill people, just looked between the two. _'Videl knows that he's a murderer and yet she still wants to earn his earn and place hers in him´_ she thought about her friend and the new student. _'That relationship cannot be healthy'_. "So why did you spare him," asked Videl.

"I thought the Chief Inspector might appreciate him as a present," replied Gohan.

"Huh," said the blonde, not understanding.

Kobe snorted. "He thinks that if he turns me over to the police, I'll tell them about my families dealings,"

Gohan nodded. "That's pretty much the only reason he's here," then he smirked at Kobe. "It's the _only_ reason you're alive," he finished, causing Kobe to shudder.

"Gohan," came a voice from the end of the hall. There stood the Chief Inspector, looking a little annoyed. Walking over to the mercenary and the people around him he said. "Want to tell me what was so important that I had to leave a meeting with the mayor,"

Gohan nodded. "This man here is Kobe Edo, third son of Tokyo Edo. He and his brothers Yokohama and Kawasaki were about to rape a young girl, not even having starting puberty. I _disposed_ of the older two and brought this one here, to hand over to you for interrogation."

"Interrogation?" question Sousuke.

Gohan nodded again. "I'm not a doctor, but from the bruises and cuts all over the girls body, I can safely say that she has been suffering a lot of abuse and I wanna find out if those low lives I found had anything to do with it,"

The Chief Inspector nodded. "Of course," he said grabbing Kobe Edo and dragging him away.

Gohan simply glared when Kobe started crying for mercy and everything else. "Scum like him don't deserve mercy," he spat.

Videl placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You know his parents will just bribe the authorities and get him out," she said.

The mercenary nodded his agreement. "Then they would just be wasting their money," he smirked.

Hi there sorry this chapter took so long, had some more exams and such. Also I've been trying to plan the rest of the story before I write, and still working on it. Also congrats to Videl1212 who guessed the most characters. The little girl is Pan and the other too teenagers are Inuyasha and Kagome from Inuyasha. Kagome was introduced in this chapter and her history will be explained during the next. Inuyasha will come into the story a little latter, same with the other two. A clue to their identities; they are both from the dragon ball universe and apart from the age of one of them and their allegiances they are exactly the same as the real ones. Remember to read and review, hopefully I can get the next chapter done soon.


	9. Brown Eyed Girl: Karma's Left Hand

**WARNING: This chapter of 'The Mercenary' contains descriptions that may distress some people. Proceed at your own discretion. **

_Perspective._

_Everyone sees life and its wonders through their own perspectives. Sometimes though, these perspectives are influenced which could be seen as brainwashing. The citizens of the Western world would views certain leaders of other nations as being evil, mostly through the use of propaganda, executed by the nation's government. They would view Adolph Hitler, the man who killed millions of Jews and started the Second World War, as evil. They would view Deng Xiaoping, who ordered the students protesting at Tiananmen Square to be massacred, as evil. They would view Joseph Stalin, who killed millions of his own people for his own personal benefit, as evil. _

_Yet they completely ignore the crimes of their own revered citizens. Such as Winston Churchill, who made mistakes in the First World War when he created a strategy which saw the death of many Australian and New Zealand troops in Turkey, and again during the Second World War, in which he was more than willing to keep Australian troops in Europe to protect the British Empire, at the expense of the Australian nation, which was left defenceless at the hands of the Japanese military might. And as well, President Harry Truman, who authorized the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to finalize Japans defeat in that war. Who can say if any of these people truly were evil or not. Who can say whether I am truly evil or not. _

_It is all a matter of perspective._

&&&

Doctor Megumi Takani, Senior Medical Officer of Satan City Hospital and the two nurses next to her, Julia Ruba and Kari Kamiya, surveyed the young girl they had just operated on. She had been brought in by a young boy in a black trench coat, apparently a mercenary working for the Administration. Whether he did or not was irrelevant to Megumi. One of the men who were about to rape her stabbed her with a fifth teen centimetre blade. It was by sheer luck alone that nothing vital was hit, and they were able to patch her up nicely.

It was all the bruises and scars that got Megumi in a bad mood. Someone had been all over this girl, and had been doing it for a while. The two nurses beside her easily recognized the signs as well, both having experienced it in one form or another. As Megumi surveyed the charts reading her health, Kari gently stroked the girl's cheek, moving some hair out of her face. "Poor little girl," she said, her voice rather shaky.

Julia nodded. "She's not much younger than my Erasa, or her friends. Too think that this could have been her," said the blonde mother.

Kari looked to Megumi who had placed down the chart. "Do we know her name, at the very least?"

"Her name is Kagome Higurashi," came a shaky male voice from the door.

The three women turned to see the top doctor, Dr. Oguni Gensai. He held a yellow folder in his hand, and looked very pale. For several minutes the women waited for him to speak again, but his words didn't come. Finally Megumi broke the silence. "You look rather pale Dr. Gensai, are you alright?" she asked.

The doctor shook his head. "I doubt any would be alright after reading what I just read. The boy who brought her in is a mercenary likewise with Mr. Sagara. Both of them didn't look too well once they had read it either," he said.

"May I read it please Dr. Gensai?" asked Megumi.

"I-I would not advise it, Dr. Tanaki, it is quite… distressing to say the lest," replied the doctor in a shaky voice.

"I'll be the judge of that doctor," said Megumi hotly, and grabbed the folder before the old man could stop her.

She opened the folder and her eyes began to scan the document. It was Sousuke Sagara's report of the information he learnt while interrogating Kobe Edo. And Gensai was right, it was distressing. As she finished reading she too became pale and she dropped the file as she whispered "Oh my God."

&&&

On top of the roof of Satan City Hospital, sat a boy, wearing a black trench coat, black jeans and fingerless black gloves. All he did was looked to the busy street below him, free of his usual mask of hate and anger. Now he looked emotionless as ever, but if someone looked hard enough they would see the regret and sorrow in his eyes.

This boy was Gohan, mercenary for hire, currently in the employment of the Satan City Administration. That day he had discovered something that completely shook the carefully defined world he had created for himself. His circle had been violated, his box assaulted. As it began to rain, the boy mercenary looked up to the sky. "Its times like this, I really wish I could get drunk," he said to himself, yet not surprised when a gruff voice answered.

"Alcohol numbs the body and mind you know," said the voice.

"Right now that's precisely what I want, Piccolo," said the Saiyan, not looking at his former mentor.

With a swish of his cape the Namek warrior sat down next to his pupil. "When you left three years ago, I never would have thought that this is how I would find you," he said.

"I'm not stupid Piccolo," said Gohan. "I know you've been checking up on me every now and again,"

Piccolo smirked. "Didn't think I could fool you," dropping his smirk and looking at the boy concerned, he continued. "So seriously, tell me what's wrong?"

Gohan just looked at his hands. "You ever feel that Karma has just kicked you in the balls?"

Piccolo nodded. "Yeah, well right now it feels like she's used a sledgehammer instead of her foot."

"Can't be that bad can it?"

"No you're right. Try a jackhammer instead."

"Wanna explain?"

Gohan sighed deeply. "Inside this hospital, there is a little girl, only nine years old. For the past two years she has been the sex toy of the Syndicate families of South City and Satan City, and it's my entire fault."

"Gohan you're not gonna make things better by taking the blame, for something you had nothing to do with," said Piccolo.

"Piccolo, when I say it's my fault, I mean I _started_ a chain of events that led to her enslavement," he said. "When I started working for the Black Syndicate to South City, they wanted to see if I was worth hiring. I robbed the Central Bank single handed, and killed a security guard in the process."

"What's that got to do with anything," asked Piccolo.

Gohan took a deep breath. "At the time, the guard had a wife, a three year old son and a six year old daughter."

Piccolo instantly did the math and his eyes widened as Gohan continued. "When he died, the mother did whatever she could to make ends meet, some less savoury than others."

"Prostitution?"

Gohan nodded. "Eventually she ran afoul with the Sen Family, the Black Syndicate family of South City. I don't know the details except that they sent thugs to kill her and take her children. Once they had the children, the killed the boy, because he was too young to be of any use, and the girl began the two years of torment."

"How did she end up here," asked the green man.

"A _gift_ of good will, from one family too another," spat Gohan.

"You seem to be taking this rather hard kid,"

Gohan looked up to the sky again and sighed. "For three years I have acted without consideration or second thought. And now I find out that one of the first acts I did as a mercenary has cost a little girl her freedom," he sighed again. "So yeah, I am taking this kinda hard."

Piccolo placed one of his clawed hands one the mercenaries shoulder. "When you get to high for your own good, fate has a way of bringing you back down," he said.

Gohan nodded and growled. "I hate this Piccolo, I hate this feeling. I hate that a nine year old girl has suffered more abuse than a hundred people experience in their lives. I hate that I am the cause of her suffering. But most of all," he stopped for a bit and took a deep breath. "I hate the fact that no matter how many times I say 'I don't care' all I'm doing is lying too myself."

"You once said to Vegeta, 'it is only natural for children too imitate their parents'," said Piccolo. "I know you hate Goku, but he would probably be feeling the same way if he was in your position."

At the mention of Goku, Gohan rolled his eyes. "I'm a mercenary, I'm meant to be cold hearted and ruthless not getting upset over some little girl whose had a hard life."

"But she's not some little girl, is she," retorted Piccolo.

Gohan just stared at the ground, in deep thought. Finally he spun around on the edge and got up. Brushing his jacket off, he grabbed his former mentor's hand. "I have an idea that will make things better," he said, and the two disappeared.

Hiding behind the door that separated the roof from the rest of the hospital, there was a girl, only months younger than the boy. Despite having seen a green man wearing a turban and cloak, her eyes held tears for the suffering and confused boy. "Poor Gohan," she whispered.

&&&

"I-inu-inuyasha,"

Megumi looked up from her seat. The little girl, Kagome, had been whispering that name ever since she came in, except for the times she was under anaesthetic. Megumi, and the other nurses and doctor were starting to wonder about this 'Inuyasha' whoever or whatever it was. For the past hour, Megumi had been going over everything she knew about Kagome Higurashi, now accompanied by Sagara interrogation report and her diagnosis. Turns out Kagome had been so badly abused that her uterus had been maimed, preventing her from ever having children in the future. The girl would never be able to have children. As if that wasn't enough she practically had every STI's known to modern medicine, including AIDS and HIV.

"How can someone suffer so much abuse," Megumi whispered to herself.

She turned when she heard a knock at the door. Sousuke walked into the room, followed by Julia, Kari, Videl and Erasa. The younger girls went straight to her bedside, while Sousuke looked at Megumi. "Is she awake yet?" he asked.

"She's coming out of the anaesthetic slowly," replied the doctor. "Inspector I'm not sure you being here is such a good idea. Kagome will likely be very fearful of any man that comes too close,"

Sousuke only looked at Kagome and said "That's assuming it was men who abused her,"

"Excuse me," exclaimed Megumi.

"Gohan mentioned that the Black Syndicate could be very… _creative_, concerning their torture methods," said Sousuke.

There were mutual gasps from all around the room. "I think I'm going to be sick," said Erasa as she ran out of the room, quickly followed by her mother and Kari.

Videl just sat next to the little girl, stroking her hand, while Megumi only glared at the police man. "How can you be so insensitive," she spat. "You say that it was creative, like it was artistic."

"I only use that word because it would take the sick and depraved side of creativity to do what was done to this little girl," said Sousuke, his eyes betraying his emotionless mask. "You may not know this Dr. Takani, but I have a daughter whose six years old. Only one year younger than Kagome when she was taken by the Syndicate. It could have quite easily been her."

Megumi eased her glare from the inspector as the three women came back from retrieving their last meal. "Forgive me Inspector, I didn't know," she said.

Sousuke nodded. "Nevertheless I need to ask her some questions. She may have information that could help against the Syndicate," said Sousuke, looking at the young girl.

"Sorry Inspector, but I'm afraid that ain't gonna happen," came a voice from the door.

Everyone in the room turned around to see Gohan flanked by two green men, one taller than Sousuke, the other a few inches shorter than Gohan. Everyone gasped at the site of the supposed Martians. "Are they from Mars," asked Erasa, not taking her eyes of the big one.

"Hardly," snorted the tall one.

"We actually come from a planet much further away," said the short one.

'Saturn?" ventured Julia, causing the tall one to shake his head, and the short one to chuckle a little.

"These two are here to help Kagome," said Gohan. "This one," gesturing to the tall one "is my first sensei, Piccolo, and this one;" gesturing to the shorter one "is Dende, guardian of Earth,"

The short one, Dende, stepped forward to the bed as Videl moved back a little, yet still not letting go of the little girl's hand. Turning to Megumi, he said "What's wrong with her?"

Gulping, Megumi said "Her reproductive organs have been mutilated, along with numerous cuts and bruises all over her body. As well she has multiple sexually transmitted diseases."

Dende nodded and turned back to Kagome. Holding out his hand, he emitted a blinding light that covered the girl's tiny form. Videl, who was still holding her hand, felt some of the cuts on her hand disappear. _'What on earth'_ thought Videl? _'How did he do that?'_ Once the light disappeared Dende smiled and stepped back. "You'll find that now she is in prefect health," he said.

Megumi instantly ran forward and checked Kagome. After a few minutes she could find none of the previous injuries that she had before, including the knife wound from Kobe Edo. As she was examining the left arm, Kagome's eyes began to flutter. When she noticed that she was being touched, she screamed and retreated as far as she could to the back of the bed, pulling her limbs from Videl and Megumi. "Please, please don't hurt me," she wailed, curling up into a ball ad sobbing heavily.

"Sweetheart, please, we're trying to help," said Megumi, reaching to stroke the girl's hair, only making her scream louder.

"Stand aside, woman," growled Piccolo.

The lady doctor only glared at the alien, but did as he said. Like Dende before him, he held his hand out to Kagome, this time covering her face, while she trembled in fear. "This is for the best kid," he said, emitting a darker light than Dende's, causing the Kagome to faint.

Meanwhile, Sousuke leaned over to Gohan who leaned against the wall. "What is he doing?" whispered Sousuke.

"He's wiping her memory," he said.

"What?!" the policeman exclaimed.

Gohan returned Sousuke's outburst with a shrug. "I figured it would be better for her if she didn't remember anything that's happened in the past two years,"

Sousuke looked at Gohan, then at Piccolo then went back to Gohan. "Well, it would be kinder, yes, but I needed to ask her some questions," the Chief Inspector stressed to the young mercenary.

"Too bad," shot Gohan. "Some things are a little more important than your questions, Chief Inspector."

Before Sousuke could say anything heard a small thump. When he turned to the noise, he saw the Kagome had collapsed into Piccolo's arms. The green man shifted her so she was once again lying peacefully on her bed. He looked at her several minutes before Gohan interrupted the silence. "Everything go ok Piccolo," he asked.

The Namek warrior shook his head. "Not quite," he said, earning a look from Gohan and Dende. "She's forgotten nearly everything that has happened, but she will be vaguely aware that something happened to her. Also she has memories that were too strong to erase."

"What do you mean?" asked Dende.

"She has memories of someone or something called 'Inuyasha'. These memories are so strong that not event he strongest telepaths could erase them," explained Piccolo.

"What will happen if her memories resurface," questioned Megumi, still somewhat wary of the green man.

"They won't," he replied. "Think of the mind as a computer, and the memories as different files. Just as those files can be hidden, memories can be suppressed. However files can be deleted as well. Same goes for memories. Though one of the differences between memories and data is that sometimes memories are too strong emotionally, such as the girl's memory of 'Inuyasha'."

Gaining the understanding nodded from Sousuke and Megumi, Piccolo turned to Dende and Gohan. "I think its time we left," he said.

Gohan nodded to his former sensei. "Right, seeya later Piccolo," said the demi Saiyan.

With a farewell from Piccolo and Dende, the two Namek exited the room leaving an indifferent Saiyan and five stunned humans. After a few minutes of silence, Erasa finally said "huh what just happened?"

Gohan smiled at the blonde and shook his head. "I should have had Piccolo wipe your memories as well," he said heartily.

Videl looked at him strangely, then remembered his conversation with Piccolo on the roof and smiled with him. _'This should help ease the guilt'_ she thought to herself. "Well," said Gohan. "If anyone needs me I'll be on the roof. The sun should be rising soon and I wanna see it."

"I'll come with you," said Videl, as she followed him out of the room.

&&&

The two teenagers sat on the roofs ledge as the sun began to rise. A comfortable silence was between them, both content with just watching the rising sun. Several minutes passed like this until Gohan eventually spoke. "You know it's not very polite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations," he said, grinning.

Videl's jaw dropped. _'How did he know I was there'_ she thought, while trying to put together a sentence of apology. The mercenary next to her just shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Our curiosity encourages us to learn more, I though told you that?"

"Yeah," said Videl. "But my dad is always telling me off for eavesdropping on his 'important' phone called.

"Yeah, well, no offence to you but your dad is a few chromosomes short of a human."

Videl laughed at Gohan's description of her father. "Your mood seems too improved," she commented. "Why did you do it, get those green men to help Kagome?"

Gohan just looked at her. "Does it really matter," he said turning to the sun.

Videl leaned back onto her elbows and sighed. "I guess not, but still, I'd like to know," she said.

"Well if you must know," Gohan sighed. "There are many reasons why I did it, but mostly for self redemption."

Videl smiled at him. "Is that all, or is your 'cold hearted and ruthless' mercenary persona shielding other reasons?" she said.

"Preceptive wench," growled Gohan. "Fine, what can I say; I'm not exactly a big fan of little girls being sex toys." His face became serious.

Videl dropped her smiled and nodded. "I don't think anyone would be, save the perpetrators," she said grimly.

"As Hugo Weaving once said," smirked Gohan. "The only verdict is _vengeance_."

As Videl was about to reply to his comment, the door leading to the hospital flung open and out strode Sousuke Sagara, looking very tired with a cigarette in his mouth. "Miss. Satan, if you please, I need to speak with Gohan in private," he said, once again completely void of emotion.

Videl sat up and made her way to the door, but not before smiling once more at Gohan, who returned it. Once she closed the door, Gohan said "I didn't know you smoked, Mr. Sagara."

Sousuke took a long drag and breathed out. "It's a bad habit my father in law got me into, something Kaname hasn't forgiven him for. And before you ask I only smoke when I'm stress, and never anywhere near my kids."

For several minutes Sousuke looked too the sun, much like Gohan and Videl before him, before he said "Kobe Edo is going to be released tomorrow night."

"What?!" exclaimed Gohan.

"You looked surprised. The reasoning of few is dictated ethics; the reasoning of many is dictated by currency."

"An attempt at being philosophical?"

"Are you saying that I'm wrong?"

Gohan looked at the older man. "Good point," he said.

"I have a job for you Gohan," said Sousuke.

Gohan groaned. "Does this mean I have to do another report?"

Sousuke shook his head. "No, no report this time. This job is off the books," he said.

"Uh… What?"

Sousuke flicked his cigarette away and turned around towards the door. As he opened the door, he said to Gohan "Kobe Edo is being held in the Rujiku District Station. You know what to do, right?"

Getting the picture, the boy mercenary smirked evilly. "Gotcha boss," he said.

&&&

Monday morning Sousuke Sagara walked into Rujiku District Station to finalise the release of one Kobe Edo, son of Tokyo and Kyoto Edo. The Chief Inspector of Satan City was not pleased with the arrangement. He wanted to see bastards Kobe get life for the things they've done, things not even the common person could fathom, what with their carefully established routines.

As Sagara entered the building, the first thing he noticed was that there were a lot of men in white jumpsuits. _'Good'_ thought Sousuke. _'Gohan did his job.'_ As he approached a random policeman, he asked "What's going on?"

Realising who he was talking to stood to attention. "Sir, Kobe Edo was murdered last night," the policeman said.

Remaining emotionless, Sousuke said "Take me to the cell."

As they walked to the cells, Sousuke noticed several men running to the nearest bin or toilet, getting reacquainted with their breakfast. The inspector started to have a bad feeling about this. When they came to the cells, Sousuke noticed that Kobe's cell was covered with a white cloth. Giving the policeman a questioning look, he asked for an explanation.

"Sorry sir, but it was all we could do to stop the other prisoners from getting sick. Some of them passed out just from the smell."

"Remove the cloth," demanded Sousuke.

Gulping, the policeman pulled down the cloth. The sight that met Sousuke was not at all what he was expecting. "Dear gods above," he whispered.

The cell was nothing more than a 5x5 square room with a bed and toilet. The usual stone grey walls however were covered with blood, bone fragments and what Sousuke organ tissue. It was no wonder why so many people were losing their last meal over this. Lying at the foot of the bars, Sousuke noticed, was the only intact piece remaining of Kobe Edo, his left hand, which still hand the ring with his family crest on it.

'_I should really be more careful for what I wish for'_

AN. Hello again guys. Sorry if anything in this chapter grossed you out or anything. Also I've been working on a plan for this story. What I was going to do was make it one story with five different 'sagas' each saga being a year of Gohan and Videl's life, but I'll probably make it a trilogy, each part of the trilogy being two years of their lives. Lemme know what you guys think and remember to keep reviewing. I gotta say I'm pretty pleased with the last chapter's response and hope that you guys will keep it up. Any constructive criticism is appreciated. And yes the man with black hair and blue eyes is android 17. good guess Videl1212 and Allahee4life. As for the chibi super Saiyan heres another hint. The only thing he shares with Goku and Vegeta is that they are the same race. The chibi super Saiyan is not related to either. Hope that helps. Until next time, cyaz.


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